AAP-BJP spar over CBI finding incriminating papers linked to Jain

A day after the CBI said that documents related to Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain were recovered during searches at the residences of two other individuals, the AAP on Monday defended the Minister while the BJP attacked him.

On Sunday, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said it had recovered documents related to property and bank transactions worth crores allegedly linked to Jain during searches at the residences of a Registrar and a lawyer of the Delhi Dental Council in a bribery case.

The investigating agency said they also recovered a bank deposit slip book containing counter foils detailing cheque deposits of around Rs 2 crore during 2011 in Jain's name and companies wherein he was serving as Director and in the name of his family members.

As many as 41 cheque books were found in his name, his wife's name and that of a private estate firm.

On Monday, sources close to Jain said the properties had been mentioned in the Minister's election affidavit filed in 2015 and the Income Tax returns.

According to the source, one of the properties was purchased in 2011-12 and the other one before 2011 and that Jain joined the party in 2013 and filed an election affidavit in 2015.

"These details were available with CBI after a raid at Jain's residence on August 25 2017," the source said regarding Jain's shareholding in different companies.

"CBI had conveniently avoided in their statement that they had these documents since last year, though it also didn't say that it's a new discovery. Let CBI deny that these documents were not mentioned in the IT returns," he said.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said that such allegations against Jain had not come up for the first time.

"In past, we have seen allegations against him like involvement in hawala transactions, fraudulent land deals, appointment of relatives on government posts, and irregularities in purchase of medicines and equipment for hospitals," a BJP statement said.

"The BJP's central government has been pulled up by the High Court many times over the cases registered by it against Jain. Now this is a fresh BJP conspiracy," Delhi government spokesperson Nagendar Sharma said.

--IANS

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