New Delhi: A Delhi court will hear today, November 21, a plea moved by jailed Aam Aadmi Party minister Satyendar Jain seeking contempt proceedings against the Enforcement Directorate for allegedly leaking CCTV footage of him in jail to the media.
Special Judge Vikas Dhull on Saturday, November 19, directed the agency to file its response on Jain’s plea which he filed after videos emerged, purportedly showing Jain receiving a massage in his Tihar Jail cell and meeting several people at once in his cell.
The ED had during a bail hearing earlier accused Jain of getting “special treatment” inside the jail. The court had ordered the ED and Jain’s legal team not to leak any content of affidavits and video evidence in this regard and had taken their undertakings in the matter.
The court had refused to put any restriction on or pass any direction to the media.
Jain has accused the ED of leaking CCTV footage “despite an undertaking given in the court”.
The AAP on Saturday drew flak in the aftermath of the videos being released, with the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress demanding his sacking and questioning the “silence” of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
The opposition has also blamed the Delhi government’s Department of Delhi Prisons, which runs the Tihar Jail. In fact, Jain was earlier prison minister. The charge was handed to deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia since Jain’s arrest.
A week ago, the Tihar jail superintendent had been suspended over alleged ‘VIP treatment’ of Jain.
On November 17, Jain and two others arrested in the money laundering case based on a CBI FIR lodged against Jain in 2017 under the Prevention of Corruption Act were denied bail. AAP has maintained that Jain’s arrest is an expression of BJP’s misuse of central agencies to exact political vendetta. Jain had been the party-appointed leader in charge of the upcoming Himachal Pradesh elections.
(With PTI inputs)