Court Grants Bail to AAP Leader Satyendar Jain in Corruption Case on ₹2 Lakh Bond

A Delhi court on Thursday granted bail to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and former Delhi minister Satyendar Jain in a corruption case linked to alleged irregularities in the tendering process for sewage treatment plant (STP) projects undertaken by the Delhi Jal Board (DJB). Special Judge Digvinay Singh of the Rouse Avenue Courts, who had reserved his order on the bail application on August 25, granted Jain relief on a personal bond of Rs 2 lakh along with two sureties of the same amount. "Your bail application is allowed," the judge told Jain, though a detailed reasoned order explaining the court's rationale has yet to be released.

Jain was arrested by the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) on August 18, along with five others, including former DJB Chief Executive Officer Udit Prakash Rai, an IAS officer, and ex-contractual consultant Ankit Srivastava, in connection with the alleged tender-manipulation case involving the augmentation and upgradation of sewage treatment plants across the national capital. The case was registered in May 2024 under Sections 7, 7A, 9 and 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, alongside several sections of the Indian Penal Code, following a complaint from Delhi's Directorate of Vigilance alleging large-scale irregularities, manipulation of tender conditions and criminal conspiracy in the process. The court had earlier, on August 19, rejected a separate plea seeking to have Jain's arrest declared illegal, sending him to judicial custody at the time; all accused have remained in custody until Thursday's ruling.

According to the ACB, the case centers on a tender awarded to M/s Euroteck Environmental Private Limited during the period Jain served as Delhi's water minister. The agency alleged that the tendering process was deliberately manipulated through restrictive technical specifications designed to favor Euroteck, limiting competition and providing the company an undue advantage, including making it the sole supplier of a particular sewage treatment technology involving fixed media. Investigators further alleged that Jain arbitrarily increased the capacity of the Rohini sewage treatment plant from 15 million gallons per day to 30 million gallons per day without conducting a required technical feasibility study, a decision the ACB says resulted in a cost escalation of approximately Rs 123 crore. The agency also claimed to have traced a money trail in which commissions were allegedly routed through intermediaries into the bank accounts of several accused individuals.

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During the bail hearing, Jain's counsel, senior advocate N Hariharan, argued that his client had been arrested nearly 27 months after the case was originally registered in May 2024, despite having been called in for questioning only once during that period, and was arrested only when summoned again. The defence contended that the evidence in the case was entirely documentary in nature, with all relevant material already seized by investigating agencies, making his continued custody unnecessary. Hariharan further argued that the tenders in question were floated in October 2022, a period during which Jain was already in judicial custody in a separate case, and that a subsequently challenged corrigendum related to the tender was issued while he remained in custody, arguing there was no direct evidence linking him to the tendering process itself. The ACB, however, opposed the bail plea, alleging that Jain played a vital role in manipulating the DJB tenders and describing him as a habitual offender, urging the court to weigh this history in its decision.

Alongside the bail order, the court directed that Jain not leave India without prior permission and that he surrender his passport, while also requiring him to inform the investigating officer and obtain prior approval before traveling outside Delhi for more than two days during the ongoing investigation. The Rouse Avenue Court separately extended the judicial custody of the other co-accused in the case until September 17, meaning the broader investigation will continue even as Jain secures his release. AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal had earlier criticized Jain's arrest as an act of political vendetta by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, a charge the BJP's Delhi unit chief has rejected, arguing instead that the case exposed longstanding failures in sewage treatment infrastructure during the AAP's decade in power in Delhi. Jain, notably, was also arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a separate money-laundering case in May 2022, for which he was later granted bail in October 2024.

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