The Supreme Court on Friday granted interim bail of six weeks to former Delhi minister Satyendar Jain on medical grounds amid fierce opposition from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) which alleged that the that medical papers being relied upon for the bail issued by the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash and the G B Pant Hospitals could have been fudged.

Brushing aside the ED’s objections to the veracity of the medical papers produced by Satyendar Jain and insisting that he be sent for independent examination by AIIMS or RML Hospital, a vacation bench comprising Justice J K Maheshwari and Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha directed that Jain will take treatment from a private hospital of his choice and place before the court all the medical papers relating to his treatment during the period of interim bail.

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Ordering the release of Satyendar Jain on the condition to be imposed by the trial court, the top court said that during the period of bail he will not try to meet or influence the witnesses or leave the NCT Delhi without the permission of the court.

On the request of the Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, the court asked Jain not to meet or speak to the media on any issue.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi told the court that Satyendar Jain was suffering from Vertebral spinal problem and had lost 30 kg of weight during his incarceration. Singhvi said that Jain has good grounds to seek bail on the merits but for now he was seeking interim bail on medical conditions.

Apprising the court that Jain has lost weight because being a Jain he was not eating Tihar Jail food, ASG Raju, alleging that the medical papers being relied upon by Jain were issued by the doctors of LNJ and GB Pant Hospitals could have been fudged, said that he was Health and Prisons Minister in Delhi government and exercised influence there.

ASG Raju said that Jain’s medical papers could be accepted not just with a “pinch of salt but with a large volume of salt”.  He questioned as to why Jain was shying away from an independent examination by the doctors from AIIMS or the RML Hospital.  He said that ED was not opposed to his plea for bail on medical grounds, if the medical conditions cited by Jain are confirmed by the AIIMS or RML Hospital.

Jain, being investigated by ED for alleged money laundering, has approached the top court challenging April 6 Delhi High Court order dismissing his bail plea. He is facing prosecution under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Special PMLA court had on November 17, 2022, dismissed his bail plea.

Jain was arrested on May 30, 2022, and charged under various provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act by Enforcement Directorate and is presently in Judicial Custody.

The ED case is based on a CBI’s complaint alleging that Satyender Jain had acquired movable properties in the name of various persons from February 14, 2015, to May 31, 2017, which he could not satisfactorily account for.