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Updated August 1st, 2022 at 16:04 IST

MASSIVE: Sanjay Raut sent to ED custody till August 4 in Patra Chawl Land Scam case

A special PMLA court in Mumbai remanded Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut to 4-day Enforcement Directorate's custody on Monday.

Reported by: Sudeshna Singh
Sanjay Raut
Image: ANI | Image:self
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A special PMLA court in Mumbai remanded Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut to 4-day Enforcement Directorate's custody on Monday. The Shiv Sena leader, who is a close aide of former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, was sent to the ED custody till August 4, a day after his arrest in relation to the Patra Chawl redevelopment case.

After his arrest, Republic TV accessed the arrest memo of the Editor of the Shiv Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana'. As per the memo, ED Assistant Director DC Nahak arrested Raut at 12.05 am today (August 1) in the exercise of the powers under Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and informed him of the grounds of arrest. In the memo, Nahak mentioned he had reason to believe that the Sena MP was guilty of an offence under PMLA based on the material in his possession.

Arguments on Sanjay Raut's remand 

During the hearing taking place in courtroom 16 of the court, Special Public Prosecutor Hiten Venegavkar, representing the ED, said, " Pravin Raut was the frontman of Sanjay Raut. Pravin Raut received around 112 crores from HDIL...Sanjay Raut’s name surfaced here when 1.6 crore was transferred to him by Pravin Raut. Sanjay Raut purchased 10 land parcels and 8 agreements, from the income earned from Pravin Raut. A plot of land was purchased in Alibaug, there, land sellers have affirmed that more than 70% has been made in cash."

Interjecting, Senior Advocate Ashok Mundargi, representing the Shiv Sena MP, said, "The offence is of 2018, the ECIR was registerer in 2021 and Pravin Raut was arrested in ED matter on Jan or Feb of this year. The complaints submitted to the court against Sanjay Raut are old complaints. These things are being raked up because of a change in atmosphere. All this is a fishing enquiry... Investigating agencies should not be encouraged to investigate." 

After he skipped the earlier summons, Raut was called by the investigation agency on July 27 for questioning in the Patra Chawl land scam case, which he skipped and informed his lawyers that due to the ongoing Parliament session, he could only appear after August 7. On the same, ED's counsel Venegavkar said, "Three summons were issued to Raut, he skipped two summons intentionally." Senior Advocate Mundargi, said, "He was not running anywhere, he was in Delhi, attending Parliament."

The present case is based on an FIR registered by the Economic Offences Wing  of the Mumbai Police in 2018 against Rakesh and Sarang Wadhawan, promoters of the real estate company Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL), Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of HDIL that undertook the redevelopment of Patra Chawl in Goregaon and its director Pravin Raut among others.

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Published August 1st, 2022 at 15:50 IST

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