The Enforcement Directorate on May 30 arrested Delhi Health Minister and senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Satyendar Jain in a "hawala transactions" case.
The ED action comes over a month after assets linked to Jain, worth around Rs 4.81 crore, were attached by the agency.
The alleged hawala transactions, which has led to the minister's arrest were "related to a Kolkata-based company", news agency ANI quoted the agency officials as saying.
Jain is accused of receiving money from shell companies in lieu of the cash transferred via "hawala" -- a reference to the informal cash transfer system which is often used for money laundering activities.
Reacting to his arrest, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said Jain is being targeted in a "fake case" on behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), due to his active involvement in the AAP's political campaign in poll-bound Himachal Pradesh.
"A fake case is being run against Satyendra Jain for 8 years. Till now ED has called him many times. In between, ED stopped calling for many years as they did not get anything. Now, they have started again because Satyendra Jain is the (party's) election in-charge of Himachal Pradesh where the BJP is losing badly. This is why Satyendra Jain has been arrested today so that he cannot go to Himachal Pradesh. He will be released in a few days as the case is completely fake," Sisodia said.
The case against Jain stems from an August 2017 FIR filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against him and others on charges of alleged possession of disproportionate assets.
The CBI has claimed that Jain purchased 200 bighas of agricultural land in the names of companies controlled by him in Delhi in five years preceding 2018 and “laundered black money” to the tune of several crores of rupees.
It had alleged that Jain controlled these companies in the past either in the form of being one of the directors or by holding one-third of shares of these companies in his name or in the names of his family members or others.
The shell companies, through which Jain is accused of receiving kickbacks in lieu of the hawala transactions, were allegedly acquired by him in Delhi from 2009 to 2011.
The laundered funds were allegedly used to purchase over 200 bighas of land in Auchandi, Bawana, Karala and Mohammed Mazvi villages in Delhi between 2010-16, the probing officials alleged.
Jain, 57, is the minister for power, home, PWD, industries, urban development, flood, irrigation and water in the Delhi government, apart from heading the crucial health ministry.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had, in February, said that he had learnt from sources that the ED was going to arrest Satyendra Jain just before the Punjab assembly elections.
