Delhi High Court Asks Satyender Jain To Respond To ED’s Plea To Defer PMLA Trial Hearing

Satyender Jain

The Delhi High Court, on Monday, issued a notice to AAP leader Satyendar Jain in response to the Enforcement Directorate’s petition seeking deferment of trial court proceedings in a money laundering case linked to alleged disproportionate assets.

The ED contended that the Central Bureau of Investigation recently filed a supplementary chargesheet, which identified a significantly larger quantum of purported illicit financial transactions than previously assessed.

Given the emergence of this new evidence, the ED conveyed its intention to submit an additional prosecution complaint and consequently requested an adjournment of trial proceedings. The agency was represented by special counsel Zoheb Hossain.

Acknowledging these submissions, Justice Vikas Mahajan scheduled the matter for further hearing on March 3, 2025. During the proceedings, Senior Advocate N. Hariharan, appearing on behalf of Satyendar Jain, affirmed that his client would submit a formal written response articulating his position on the matter.

Jain had earlier moved the Delhi High Court to seek deferment of trial court hearings, asserting that the investigation remained ongoing and, therefore, any determination regarding the charges should only occur once the inquiry had been fully concluded.

His petition underscored the principle that any exculpatory material unearthed during the investigative process must be incorporated into judicial deliberations when assessing whether a prima facie case exists.

Additionally, Jain’s plea referenced a CBI status report concerning the predicate offence, which underscored the necessity of continued investigative scrutiny.

The report emphasized the complexity of the case, detailing the need for an exhaustive examination of financial transactions, retrieval of voluminous records from multiple governmental entities, and interviews with witnesses from varied socio-economic backgrounds. The petition posited that the outcome of this ongoing inquiry would be instrumental in determining the extent of the alleged proceeds of crime.

Previously, the trial court had granted Jain bail, citing his prolonged pretrial detention of 18 months as a decisive factor in its ruling. Jain had been taken into custody by the ED in May 2022, with the agency alleging that he was involved in laundering illicit funds through four corporate entities purportedly linked to him.

The present money laundering case is rooted in an antecedent CBI investigation, which subsequently triggered the ED’s inquiry into financial transactions associated with three additional entities allegedly connected to Jain.