NEW DELHI: Former Delhi minister Satyendar Jain told the Rouse Avenue Court on Wednesday that he had relied on technical experts while dealing with a project to augment sewage treatment plants (STPs) of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), and denied having knowledge of the technical aspects of the tendering process.Jain, who was arrested by the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) on Tuesday along with five others, was produced before the court in connection with alleged irregularities in the tendering process for the augmentation and upgradation of DJB STPs.Arguing before the court, Jain submitted that the primary objective of the project was to clean the Yamuna. However, constructing new STPs would have taken four to five years, prompting the government to opt for augmenting existing plants and increasing their capacity by around 1.5 to two times, he said.He submitted that the project was initially planned to treat 300 million gallons per day (MGD) of water, with engineers engaged to work on the project. The estimated cost was Rs 5 crore per MGD.The tender was subsequently divided into four packages, with the combined bid value estimated at around Rs 1,500 crore, Jain told the court.Responding to technical questions raised by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on August 7, Jain said he could not answer them as he was not involved in the technical aspects of the project.“I was a minister holding eight portfolios. Why would I know the technical aspects? I had to rely on experts,” Jain submitted.On the tender process, he said, “Tender ke andar kya ho raha hai, mujhe nahi pata,” maintaining that he had relied on the officials and experts handling the technical work.Jain also submitted that he ceased to be a minister after May 30 following his arrest in another case. He alleged that the ED was incorrectly treating him as a minister even after he no longer held any portfolio.He further claimed that the Anti-Corruption Branch had alleged inflation of the project cost and that investigators were seeking to “rope in a big name”, leading to his implication in the case.Jain said he was in jail when the pre-bid meeting was held and therefore had no knowledge of what transpired during it.“Jab main jail mein tha, pre-bid meeting mein kya hua, mujhe nahi pata,” he submitted.He also alleged that his name was routinely added to cases, saying, “Jo bhi case banana hota hai, Satyendar Jain ko jod dete hain — as a classical case.”The ACB has sought 14 days’ judicial custody of Jain and the other accused.The agency has arrested six people in connection with an FIR registered on May 11, 2024, under Sections 7, 7A, 9 and 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, as amended in 2018, along with provisions of the IPC relating to cheating, criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy.Meanwhile, AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal questioned Union Home Minister Amit Shah over Jain’s arrest and alleged that the ACB was pressured into taking the action.In a post on X, Kejriwal alleged that an ACB official had claimed there was no plan to arrest Jain until Wednesday morning and that a call from Shah subsequently led to the arrest. The allegations have not been independently verified.BJP MP and former AAP leader Swati Maliwal also targeted Kejriwal over the case, alleging that he had run a “shop of corruption” in Delhi for a decade.Maliwal alleged that Kejriwal deliberately avoided holding any ministry during his tenure as Delhi chief minister so that responsibility for alleged irregularities could be shifted to ministers. She cited the alleged school classroom construction and liquor policy cases among other controversies.
