New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday granted interim bail for six months to jailed former Delhi minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Satyendar Jain.
The bail granted on medical grounds also included the condition that the former minister cannot move out of Delhi without permission and also cannot make a statement before the media.
The top court allowed the politician to undergo treatment in a hospital of his choice and also asked him to produce the medical records.
Jain had last week approached the apex court challenging the Delhi High Court order denying him bail.
His lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi argued before the Supreme Court that the former education minister had lost 35 kg since his arrest last May.
Jain collapsed in the jail on Thursday morning and was first taken to DDU Hospital. Jail officials said he slipped and fell in the bathroom of the medical observation room in Tihar, where he was kept under observation due to general weakness.
Although, according to jail officials, Jain’s body parts were normal, Jain was referred to DDU Hospital as he too complained of back, leg and shoulder pain.
Later in the day, Jain was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of Delhi’s LNJP Hospital on Thursday and put on oxygen support.
The AAP has claimed that the leader was suffering from severe lumbar pain, which caused dizziness and lower back pain. The party said that a recent MRI has revealed degeneration of all intervertebral discs and the politician has been advised immediate spinal surgery.
AAP said, however, that he was number 416 on Tihar’s waiting list for operations, so his operation would not take place before five months.
The AAP also said that Jain was depressed, suffered from sleep apnea and needed a BIPAP machine while he slept.
On Monday, Jain was examined at Safdarjung Hospital for a spinal injury, which he had suffered from a fall in the jail bathroom last time.
Jain was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on May 30, 2022 on charges of money-laundering. The ED’s case is based on a complaint by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which alleged that Jain had acquired movable properties in the names of various persons from February 2015 to May 2017.