Videos showing Delhi minister Satyendar Jain receiving full-body massages while lodged in Tihar Jail have given enough fodder to the BJP to hit out at Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party.
The opposition party demanded that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal should apologise to the nation for defending Jain. “If Kejriwal is too weak to dismiss Satyendar Jain, then he should resign,” party’s national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said.
Defending Jain, his party asserted that Jain was receiving physiotherapy in the jail, where he is in judicial custody for the past five months over money-laundering charges.
Jain could be seen in the purported videos getting back and foot massages in his cell, reading some documents and talking to visitors while lying on a bed. Mineral water bottles and a remote are also seen. In one video, he was seen getting a head massage while sitting on a chair.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had claimed that Jain was receiving physiotherapy following a spinal injury and accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of doing "cheap" politics on health issues by illegally leaking CCTV footage.
However, the fiasco took a fresh twist after it came to light that the masseur seen giving massages to Jain is not a physiotherapist, but an accused in a rape case.
BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala has claimed that the masseur in the videos is a man named Rinku, an accused charged under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act and section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code.
“Rape accused Rinku was giving massage to Satyendar Jain. Rinku Accused under Pocso and IPC 376. So it was not a physiotherapist but a rapist who was giving maalish (massage) to Satyendar Jain! Shocking. Kejriwal must answer why he defended this and insulted physiotherapists,” Poonawala said in a tweet.
Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar also hit out at the Arvind Kejriwal-led party, tweeting, “AAP is "redefining" politics - Pocso booked physios, Money laundering Ministers, Liquor lobby captured governance has certainly come a long way from associating with India against Corruption and fooling a lot of people.”
According to Delhi Police sources, Rinku was arrested in 2021 after his minor daughter accused him of rape. He is currently lodged in Tihar Jail awaiting trial.
Meanwhile, India Today quoted sources in Tihar Jail saying that the video is old. The jail authorities have already taken action against concerned officials and jail staff, they added.
Earlier, Tihar jail Superintendent Ajit Kumar was suspended after the ED levelled allegations in the court that Jain was receiving “special treatment” in jail.
The Congress, too, joined the chorus of condemnation. The party’s spokesperson Alka Lamba said Jain’s prison cell looked less like a jail barrack and more like a hotel room. She also demanded why Arvind Kejriwal had not yet removed the AAP minister from his post.
