Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, accused in Maharashtra’s Patra Chawl scam, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) at 12 pm on charges of money laundering. This action was taken by the ED on Wednesday after six and a half hours of interrogation. Raut had reached the ED office at 5.30 pm on Sunday.
After Raut’s arrest, his brother Sunil Raut said that he was wrongly arrested. We have not been given any paper regarding the arrest. BJP is afraid of Sanjay Raut, hence the arrest has been made.
Big Updates…
According to ED sources, 11.5 lakh cash has been found from Raut’s house. Raut could not give account of this cash, after which the ED confiscated it.
Sanjay Raut’s brother Sunil told that he will be produced in PMLA court at 11.30 am on Monday. The ED team may seek custody for questioning.
An FIR was registered against Raut in the alleged audio case at Vakola Police Station in Mumbai. This FIR has been got done by Swapna Patekar, a witness in the Patra Chawl case. Offensive words were used in the audio.
2 statements amidst ED’s action…
1. Uddhav Thackeray – All this work is going on shamelessly leaving all the shame in shame. This repression is a royal policy. If anyone had the courage to speak about Hindutva, it was Bal Saheb Thackeray only.
2. Sanjay Raut – I am not involved in any scam. The ED has acted on the basis of wrong information. I swear by late Balasaheb Thackeray that I have nothing to do with any scam. I will die, but will neither surrender nor leave Shiv Sena. I will not bow down
4 points of ED action
The ED team reached Raut’s house in Bhandup at 7 am. The team consisted of about 5 officers.
The team searched the house for about 9 hours. ED took Raut into custody at 5.30 pm.
Raut’s mother performed the aarti before leaving the house. Raut welcomed the supporters by waving saffron garlands.
At 7 pm, Raut’s lawyer claimed that Raut has not been taken into custody. They are being questioned on the notice.
Raut’s assets worth 11 crores have been confiscated
The case pertains to Patra Chawl in Goregaon area of Mumbai, which is a plot of Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority. There is an allegation of being a scam of about 1034 crores. In this case, assets worth Rs 9 crore of Praveen Raut and Rs 2 crore of Sanjay Raut’s wife Varsha have been confiscated.
It is alleged that real estate businessman Praveen Raut cheated the people living in Patra Chawl. A construction company got the job of constructing 3000 flats on this plot. Of these, 672 flats were to be given to the residents already living here. The rest were to be given to MHADA and the said company, but in the year 2011, parts of this huge plot were sold to other builders.
Case exposed in the investigation of PMC Bank scam
The PMC Bank scam that surfaced in Maharashtra in 2020 was being investigated, when the name of Praveen Raut’s construction company came to the fore. It was then learned that a loan of Rs 55 lakh was given to Sanjay Raut’s wife Varsha Raut from the bank account of the builder’s wife. It is alleged that Sanjay Raut had bought a flat in Dadar with this money.
Source: dainikbhaskarup.com”
