Delhi: BJP reiterates demand to sack Satyendar Jain as new jail video surfaces

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday reiterated its demand to sack Delhi minister Satyendar Jain after a new footage of him being served ”packed food” inside the Tihar jail surfaced.

A video of Jain was widely shared on social media last week in which he was seen getting a massage from a man inside his cell, sparking allegations that he was being given special treatment in prison. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader has been in judicial custody for the past five months over money-laundering charges. The AAP defended Jain terming the video as a “BJP stunt” and deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia claimed that Jain was injured in jail and was getting treatment. However, prison officials on Tuesday said that the man who was seen in the video clips giving Jain massages was not a physiotherapist but was an inmate accused of raping a minor.

The BJP in a press conference in New Delhi on Wednesday showed the new video of Jain getting “packed food”. There was no immediate reaction from the AAP to the new video. HT cannot verify the authenticity of the video.

“First Jain is not removed as a minister despite being in jail, now there are people working for him and all facilities are being provided…. . We don’t know how the system is operating, but they have arranged a luxury resort-like facility inside the jail. The television is operational, he is getting packed food, someone is massaging the legs, as if they are in a holiday resort and not in a jail. We want people to see that the AAP, which is busy giving character certificates to others, is itself engaging in characterless actions,” Union minister Meenakshi Lekhi said in the press conference.

Describing it as a “shameless conduct” of the AAP, the New Delhi member of Parliament (MP) said, “A person, who has been caught and is in jail for certain acts of corruption and against whom an investigation is going on, is getting a massage on feet by an accused who is involved in a crime like rape of a minor. In spite of being involved in so many cases, this person continues to be a minister in the AAP’s Delhi government.”

“They (AAP) are involved in so many corruption cases. (Chief minister) Arvind Kejriwal doesn’t care about Delhi. For them, this place is just to earn money to fund their political ambitions,” Lekhi added.