NEW DELHI, Sept. 4 -- A Delhi court on Thursday granted bail to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Satyendar Jain in a corruption case dating back to his tenure as Delhi's water minister, observing that the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) "rushed in to arrest him" without gathering sufficient evidence. In his order, special judge Dig Vinay Singh of Rouse Avenue Court underlined that a few decisions taken by Jain during his tenure as a minister "do raise eyebrows" and that "he may not be innocent", but the material gathered by ACB so far was "not enough". The AAP leader was granted bail on a personal bond of Rs.2 lakh and two sureties of the like amount. "The investigating agency ought to have first conducted a thorough investigation and gathered more evidence before rushing to arrest him," said the order. The court will decide the plea of the five other accused, including IAS officer and former Delhi Jal Board (DJB) chief executive officer Udit Rai, on September 5. Jain was arrested on August 18 along with five others in a DJB-related corruption case. Five accused, including Jain, were sent to 14 days of judicial custody, while former DJB contractual consultant Ankit Shrivastava was remanded to two days of ACB custody. The ACB registered the case on May 11, 2024, following a complaint by the Delhi government's Directorate of Vigilance alleging "large-scale irregularities" and "criminal conspiracy" in the tendering process for augmentation and upgrade of DJB's sewage treatment plants (STPs). The order was also critical of the "unexplained delay" of 27 months between the registration of the FIR and Jain's arrest. "The prosecution has failed to identify any new or suddenly intervening circumstance that warranted his arrest after such a prolonged gap. Not much seems to have been achieved in the investigation during this long period besides collecting replies and documents," the order stated. The ACB, last week, opposed Jain's bail plea, alleging that he played a "vital role in manipulating" DJB STP tenders to favour a private company. In its 13-page written response, additional public prosecutor Manish Rawat alleged that Jain "connived" with senior DJB officials, including former CEO and co-accused Udit Prakash Rai, to manipulate technical recommendations, the capacity of an STP project and its cost estimates, eventually tailoring tender conditions to favour Euroteck Environmental Pvt Ltd. The bail order read, "...the allegations are primarily against the other co-accused persons...even if the statements on record and the materials gathered are taken into account, the applicant's complicity will have to be established at trial, and, if convicted, the applicant will be sentenced". The court held that prima facie, none of the WhatsApp chats regarding STP tenders had links to Jain, and there was no other phone call record or SMS that might presently connect him to the kickbacks and hawala transactions with the other co-accused. "Continued detention in judicial custody cannot be justified on the generic plea that a conspiracy is yet to be unearthed," the court said....