New Delhi:

President Droupadi Murmu has granted sanction to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to prosecute former Delhi health minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Satyendar Jain in a money laundering case related to disproportionate assets, sources said.

The development came days after the Union Ministry of Home Affairs sought the President’s sanction to prosecute Mr Jain, who was arrested in May 2022 and was in custody for approximately 18 months, before he was released on bail in October 2024. 

The sanction against the 60-year-old AAP leader was sought under section 218 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita. The provision governs the prosecution of public servants and judges. It outlines the procedure for bringing charges against the accused for alleged offenses committed while performing his or her official duties.

Mr Jain is accused of laundering money through four companies linked to him. He was arrested, along with two others, by ED on May 30, 2022 under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The arrests were made on the basis of a First Information Report (FIR) registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against the AAP leader in 2017 under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

ED had earlier provisionally attached assets worth Rs 4.81 crore of Mr Jain’s family and companies “beneficially owned and controlled” by him as part of a money laundering probe against him. 

The AAP leader has been charge-sheeted by ED. He was granted bail on October 18, 2024 by a Delhi court.