Supreme Court today granted ex-Delhi health Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Satyendra Jain interim medical bail till July 11 subject to conditions. The top court also permitted Jain to avail medical treatment from a private hospital.
The Supreme Court directed Jain to produce his medical files relating to the treatment undergone by him while he is out on interim bail. The matter will now be heard after the summer break on July 10.
The apex court further directed Jain against influencing witnesses in the case or leaving the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi without its permission.
Jain, who was arrested in a money laundering case, has been in Tihar Jain since May 2022 after his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate. The top court's order comes a day after the ex-health minister collapsed in prison from dizziness. In the past week, Jain was hospitalised twice due to his ill health.
Lost 35 kgs in jail, have muscular dystrophy: Jain to SC
In his appeal seeking bail, Satyendra Jain told the Supreme Court that he lost 35 kgs in jail and suffers from muscular dystrophy. “There are overwhelming grounds for a medical bail, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi said.
Singhvi—he was representing Jain—sought bail on humanitarian grounds submitting that the AAP leader was also suffering from vertebrae and spinal issues.
However, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju—appearing for the Enforcement Directorate (ED)—opposed the bail plea and said that the ex-Delhi health minister should be examined by an independent committee of doctors from AIIMS. Raju expressed his apprehensions about Jay Prakash Hospital and Lok Nayak Hospital since they are state-run institutions. “We feel medical records could be fudged…,” Raju said. “We cannot trust medical records from Delhi-run hospitals since he was the (health) minister. These Delhi govt hospitals were under him,” Raju added.
“If the AIIMS report in his favour then I will concede,” he added.
On the weight loss, Raju said, “He is losing weight since he is a Jain and refuses to eat in the hospital...Jains believe in fasting... He fasts in the jail and does not eat food,” the ASG said.
The case against Satyendra Jain
The CBI is probing the ex-Delhi minister on money laundering charges and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
The CBI alleged that between 2015-2017, Jain could not justify the movable properties he amassed in the name of various people. Following the central probe agency, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) also registered a case against him. The ED alleged that Jain owned and controlled several companies which were used to fudge books to show entries amounting to ₹4.81 crores from shell companies against cash transactions with Kolkata-based entry operators through a hawala route.
The Delhi High Court in November 2022 denied Jain bail on the grounds that he is an influential person, and his case did not satisfy the twin conditions for bail under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).