Delhi Home and Health minister Satyendra Jain was on Tuesday remanded to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody till June 9 by a local court here after he was arrested in a money laundering case.

However, the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal claimed the charges against Jain were "completely false'' and born out of political reasons. The CM described him as a hardcore patriot and an honest person who will come out clean in the case. "We are hardcore patriots. We consider corruption a betrayal to the country. We can die but cannot betray our country," Kejriwal told reporters.

The Rouse Avenue Court remanded Jain to ED custody till June 9 in the money laundering case filed against Jain, his wife Poonam Jan and others. Jain’s arrest from his house on Monday came a month after the ED had attached immovable properties worth ₹4.81 crore owned by five companies such as Akinchan Developers Pvt. Ltd and Indo Metal Impex Pvt Ltd under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. In the ED case, which was based on the CBI’s disproportionate assets case against Jain, it is alleged that the AAP leader was unable to explain cash entries into the companies in which he was stakeholder.

It is alleged that post becoming a minister in Kejriwal's government, he had transferred all his shares to his wife in 2015. The companies under scanner would allegedly wire cash payments to firms in Kolkata. They in turn would "route back the money" on the pretext of buying shares through legal means, according to the probe agency.

In a span of four years, beginning from 2010, the companies are suspected to have laundered ₹16.39 crores. He later, according to government sources, surrendered the money under the Income Disclosure Scheme when prosecuted by the Income Tax department. The union home ministry had approved in November of 2019 Jain's prosecution.

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