A Public Internet Litigation (PIL) has been moved in the Delhi High Court seeking direction to disqualify Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Satyendar Jain for being the Member of the Legislative Assembly and apparently the Minister in Government of NCT of Delhi.

The plea stated that Satyendar Jain, a cabinet minister in the Delhi Government, also a member of Legislative Assembly from Shakur Basti Assembly constituency himself declared that he lost his memory before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the same has also been informed to the trial court by the Additional Solicitor General.

The plea submitted that the Delhi Government is clearly violating the Provisions of the Constitution of India under Article 191 (1)(b) which clearly states ‘a Person shall be disqualified for being chosen as, and for being, a member of the Legislative Assembly or Legislative Council of State if he is of unsound mind and stands so declared by a competent court’.

The petitioner Ashish Kumar Srivastava through Advocate Rudra Vikram Singh sought direction from Delhi Government to declare all the decisions taken by him null and void after he suffered from Covid and consequently lost his memory. The petitioner also sought direction from the Centre to constitute a Medical Board to analyze the mental condition of Satyendar Jain.

The petition further stated that Satyender Jain is handling many important portfolios in the Government of NCT of Delhi and every day he has to take a lot of decisions and sign many documents/ orders, but as he himself declared his memory loss hence anyone can take the advantage of his illness and ultimately the voters of Delhi will suffer.

The matter will be heard by the Division Bench headed by the Chief Justice of Delhi on August 16, 2022.

Delhi’s Cabinet Minister Satyendar Jain last week withdrew his interim bail plea filed on medical grounds. Jain was on May 30 arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case. The trial noted that Satender Jain is getting discharged from the hospital and wished to withdraw the application for interim bail.

The ED had filed a prosecution complaint (charge sheet) naming Delhi Minister Satyendar Jain and others in a money laundering case. The ED prosecution complaint has named Satyendar Jain, his wife Poonam Jain, Vaibhav Jain, Ankush Jain, Ajit Prasad Jain, and Sunil Jain, including four private firms as accused.

The above-mentioned accused in the prosecution complaint are accused of violations under the sections of the money laundering Act.

The ED on June 6 had claimed to have seized 2.85 crores of cash and 133 gold coins weighing 1.80 kg from Satyendrer Jain’s aides during its day-long raid conducted at various places across Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR). The agency had also seized various incriminating documents and digital records during these raids.

The ED had initiated a money-laundering investigation on the basis of a First Information Report registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on 24 August 2017 under Section 13(2) r/w 13(1)(e) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 against Satyendar Jain, Poonam Jain, Ajit Prasad Jain, Sunil Kumar Jain, Vaibhav Jain, and Ankush Jain.

The CBI had also filed a charge sheet on 3 December 2018 against Satyendar Jain and others. The charge sheet mentioned that Satyendar Jain, while holding the office as a Minister in the Government of Delhi, during the period from 14 February 14 to 31 May 2017, had acquired assets that were disproportionate to his known sources of income. The CBI has accused Satyendar Jain and others of the commission of offenses under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.