CBI denies AAP claim, says seized property papers of Jain 'not old'

Hours after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) alleged that the documents the CBI seized on Sunday relating to Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain's property were the same as those recovered during a raid at the AAP Minister's residence earlier, the probe agency on Monday refuted their claim.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday 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.

Earlier in the day, sources close to Jain claimed the properties had already been mentioned in the Minister's election affidavit filed in 2015 and his Income Tax returns.

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

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

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

The premier investigation agency, however, strongly denied the party's claim and said two original documents of properties in outer Delhi were seized while searching the residences of Delhi Dental Council Registrar Rishiraj in an unrelated case.

"CBI strongly denies all charges levelled by AAP," an official told IANS.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on the other hand, said that such charges against Jain had not come up for the first time.

"In past, we have seen allegations of his 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.

--IANS

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