Satyendar Jain arrested by ED: All you need to know about the alleged hawala case

The probe agencies move is under scanner as it comes at a time when Jain as the AAP's in charge of the poll-bound Himachal Pradesh. Though the ED questioned AAP leaders in 2018, there was little progress in the case for the next three years.

New Delhi, May 31: The Enforcement Directorate arrested Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain in a five-year-old hawala transactions case linking to companies owned by him which had arisen out of a FIR filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation in August 2017.

The probe agencies move is under scanner as it comes at a time when Jain as the AAP's in charge of the poll-bound Himachal Pradesh. Though the ED questioned AAP leaders in 2018, there was little progress in the case for the next three years.

AAP has linked the development to the upcoming polls in Himachal Pradesh.

"A fake case is being run against Satyendra Jain for 8 years. Till now ED has been called many times. In between, ED stopped calling for many years as they did not get anything. Now they have started again because Satyendra Jain is the election in-charge of Himachal. BJP is losing badly in Himachal. That is why Satyendra Jain has been arrested today so that he cannot go to Himachal. They will be released in a few days as the case is completely fake," tweeted Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia.

What is hawala case in which ED arrested Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain?

The ED has accused Satyendra Jain of possessing of "disproportionate assets."

Jain was involved a hawala transaction with a Kolkata based firm in 2015-16.

A money laundering case had been registered by the ED based on a FIR filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2017 on the alleged possession of disproportionate assets.

The ED had said last month that assets worth Rs 4.81 crore of Jain's family and companies "beneficially owned and controlled" by him were provisionally attached as part of a money laundering probe against him.

In a statement issued then, the ED had said it issued a provisional order under the PMLA to "attach immovable properties worth Rs 4.81 crore belonging to Akinchan Developers Pvt. Ltd., Indo Metal Impex Pvt Ltd, Paryas Infosolutions Pvt. Ltd., Manglayatan Projects Pvt. Ltd., J.J. Ideal Estate Pvt. Ltd., Swati Jain, wife of Vaibhav Jain, Sushila Jain, wife of Ajit Prasad Jain, and Indu Jain, wife of Sunil Jain."

The probe found that "during the period 2015-16, when Satyendar Kumar Jain was a public servant, the companies beneficially owned and controlled by him received accommodation entries to the tune of Rs 4.81 crore from shell (paper) companies against cash transferred to Kolkata-based entry operators through the hawala route."

The money laundering case against the AAP minister stems from an August 2017 FIR filed by the CBI against him and others on charges of alleged possession of disproportionate assets. The income tax department too had probed these transactions and had issued an order attaching "benami assets" allegedly linked to Jain.

Satyendar Jain, 57, is the minister for health, industries, power, home, urban development and water in the Arvind Kejriwal-led government in Delhi.