L-G VK Saxena has sanctioned a CBI inquiry against former Delhi Minister and AAP leader Satyendar Jain for allegedly extorting Rs 10 crore from conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar while he was lodged in Tihar Jail. Reacting to the development, the AAP accused Saxena of taking the decision “under the influence of the BJP” as it was facing “a significant defeat” on all seven seats in Delhi in the Lok Sabha polls. Granted under the Prevention of Corruption Act, the sanction to prosecute the former Delhi Home Minister, L-G House officials said, has been accorded to investigate allegations of Jain running a “high profile extortion racket from Tihar Jail” and demanding Rs 10 crore as “protection money” from Chandrashekhar to enable him to “live peacefully and comfortably in Jail”. L-G House officials also alleged that Jain, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case, was also lodged in Tihar Jail where he had “influenced jail officials into providing him a body massage and other VIP treatment.” “Saxena, having given his sanction for the CBI inquiry, also referred the matter to the Ministry of Home Affairs for necessary action in the matter,” officials said. They added that on February 9, the L-G had also sanctioned a CBI inquiry against a Tihar Jail Superintendent for allegedly extorting money “at the behest of Jain” and a former Director General of Delhi Prisons. Chandrashekhar has alleged that Jain had extorted and received Rs 10 crore from him in various tranches between 2018 and 2021, either personally or through his accomplices, as protection money, so as to enable him ‘to live peacefully and comfortably in different jails such as Tihar, Rohini and Mandoli. Addressing a press conference on the allegations against Jain, who had charge of the city’s prisons under him before he was arrested, AAP Malviya Nagar MLA and Lok Sabha candidate for the New Delhi seat Somnath Bharti sought to attribute it to “fear” of Arvind Kejriwal within BJP. “They’re willing to use anyone to win the polls, even if it means relying on a notorious thug. Law and order in Delhi fall under the Centre, so the L-G should inform us what Sukesh is talking about,” he alleged. “The person who has provided a health model to the country and the world, whose discussion is everywhere, they’re not satisfied with just putting him in jail. Now, on the complaint of a notorious thug, a CBI probe has been ordered to harass this person,” he added.
