The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Satyendar Jain of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in an alleged money laundering case.

The ED claims that the New Delhi health minister was involved in sending monies to a Kolkata-based firm through the hawala system (transactions involving local agents rather than banking systems) in 2015-16.

Mr Jain and his family were named in a Central Bureau of Inquiry (CBI) investigation in 2017 for allegedly laundering up to INR1.62 crore.

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Mr Jain and his family are accused of setting up four shell companies (businesses that do not exist) to launder INR11.78 crore in 2011-12 and INR4.63 crore in 2015-16.

On the basis of the CBI’s FIR against the AAP leader, the ED launched a probe on Mr Jian.

Mr. Jain’s detention is likely to create a fight between the AAP and the BJP, as opposition figures like as Arvind Kejriwal and Mamta Banerjee have regularly accused the national government of harassing state governments through its agencies.

“A bogus case has been running against Satyendar Jain for eight years,” Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia tweeted. ED (Enforcement Directorate) has phoned several times so far. ED ceased phoning for several years in the meantime because they were not getting anything. They’ve started again now that Satyendar Jain is in charge of Himachal’s election.”

“BJP is losing terribly in Himachal,” the Deputy Chief Minister added. Satyendar Jain was arrested today so that he could not travel to Himachal. He’ll be released in a few days because the case is a hoax.”

In January, Arvind Kejriwal stated that his sources informed him of Mr Jain’s impending arrest by the ED.

“From our sources, we have learned that right before Punjab polls, in the following few days, the ED is going to arrest Satyendar Jain,” Mr Kejriwal remarked to reporters before the AAP’s victory in the Punjab elections. They’re more than welcome. Satyendar Jain had already been raided by the centre, but nothing was found,”