New Delhi:
Corruption charges continue to pile up outside Aam Aadmi Party leaders’ doors, with ex-Delhi Health Minister Satyender Jain back in the dock – this time amid allegations of bribery in connection with a Rs 571 crore project to install CCTV cameras in the city. The case has been pending since May 2023.
The case has been filed by the Delhi government’s Anti-Corruption Bureau – under Section 17 of the Prevention of Corruption Act – according to a statement released Wednesday afternoon.
Specifically, Mr Jain is accused of taking Rs 7 crore as a bribe to waive a Rs 16 crore penalty for delay in setting up cameras. Over one lakh CCTVs were to be set up across Delhi’s 70 Assembly segments.
The ACB’s case is built on the statement of “an officer of the BEL, (who is) well-versed with the facts of the case (and) whose examination supported these allegations”.
This officer, the ACB said, had provided a “detailed complaint”, which includes claims a second order, of an additional 1.4 lakh cameras, was placed after the initial delay and of “shoddy” installations.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s Delhi unit chief, Virendra Sachdeva, has ripped into the AAP over these latest claims and accused the party of trying to “stifle the case” while it was in power.
केजरीवाल सरकार ने 2017-18 में एक निजी कम्पनी “बी.इ.एल.” को सी.सी.टी.वी. लगाने का 571 करोड़ रूपए का ठेका दिया था, जिसमें विलंब को लेकर कम्पनी पर 16 करोड़ रूपए का जुर्माना 2019 में लगाया गया जिसे कुछ ही दिन बाद सत्येन्द्र जैन ने 7 करोड़ लेकर माफ कर दिया था।
ए.सी.बी. ने 2023 में… pic.twitter.com/8v9eOn8fwH
— BJP Delhi (@BJP4Delhi) March 19, 2025
“Tender of Rs 571 crore was given to Bharat Electronics Limited and then, to waive off losses, he (Mr Jain) took Rs 7 crore bribe. BJP had complained then also… the AAP tried to suppress investigation,” he alleged, “… but no matter how much you tried to hide the corruption, you have to answer now.”
Neither the AAP nor Mr Jain have yet responded to these charges.
The fresh case against Mr Jain – granted bail in October last year, following his arrest two years prior in an Enforcement Directorate money laundering case – is not the only bad news; last month President Droupadi Murmu greenlit his prosecution in a disproportionate assets case.
Meanwhile, Mr Kejriwal and Mr Sisodia – both of whom were arrested and jailed on corruption charges linked to the Delhi liquor excise policy scam – face new charges of their own.
READ | Court Orders Case Against Kejriwal For Allegedly Misusing Public Funds
AAP boss and ex-Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal faces a six-year-old charge – misusing public funds to put up promotional posters for his party, and his former deputy is roiled in an alleged Rs 2,000 crore scam (in which Mr Jain is also named) linked to building classrooms for Delhi government schools.
READ | “Won’t Bow Down”: Sisodia As President Okays ‘Classroom Scam’ Case
The liquor policy charges also remain; last month the Comptroller and Auditor-General, or CAG, tabled a report in the Delhi Assembly that said the state lost Rs 2,002 crore as a result.
The AAP has denied all of these charges, insisting they have been fabricated by the BJP – which also accused Mr Kejriwal of using Rs 45 crore taxpayers’ money to renovate the bungalow he was allotted as Chief Minister – to smear its reputation and those of its three top leaders.
Its protestations aside, Mr Kejriwal’s party was thumped in last month’s Assembly election; the BJP won 48 of Delhi’s 70 seats to take control of the government for the first time in 28 years.
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