Sanjay Raut sent to ED custody till August 8 in the Patra Chawl scam case, money trail out

In a massive development, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut was sent to the custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) till August 8. A Mumbai court on Thursday observed that it was necessary for the ED to 'investigate the source of the dirty money' and how the same was inserted in the financial system. 

"I carefully examined the arguments from both sides, it is a fact that trail of money of Rs 1.17 crore and Rs 1.08 crore was not before the court when the court restricted the remand to ED. Considering the facts that some more amount has been revealed and tabled by ED with the bank statement, pointing out further trail amount, there is remarkable progress in the investigation," Justice MG Deshpande noted.

"The contention by Raut's lawyer is not justified because ED has to investigate the source of the dirty money and how the same was inserted in the financial system," the Court observed, sending the Shiv Sena leader to the ED's remand till August 8.

ED lays bare money trail before court

During the proceedings, the ED revealed that there was a money trail of Rs 112 crore of Pravin Raut, the main accused in the Patra land scam case, and further money trail with four heads had emerged during the probe. This included the money trail of Sanjay Raut's international trips. 

There were several documents and those documents were put up before the Sanjay Raut and money trials have been revealed by him, the ED said. It added that while investigating earlier, Raut said that he has no knowledge, but new documents seized from his residence had revealed a lot. According to the ED, after the remand, documents were scrutinised, and it was found that they contradict the evidence found earlier. 

Similarly, investigating the bank account, an amount of Rs 1.8 crore was transferred to his wife Varsha Raut, the ED shared. When asked, Sanjay Raut was not able to answer. Documents have been asked from the respective bank in the case, the ED told the court, pressing for further remand to investigate the money trails further. The ED also maintained that Raut was 'evasive' in his replies. Eight days custody was sought by the central agency. 

Sanjay Raut's lawyer opposed his custody and stated that old allegations were being cited again by the agency to show the court that the investigation was ongoing. "On deposit being made in the account of Varsha Raut -- they did not say whether it is cash deposited, if the amount is huge, they can trace the account. For this, custody is not required," Raut's lawyer contended. 

On the other hand, witness Swapna Patkar's lawyer stated that his client was being threatened since Raut was a 'very influential person'. 

Sanjay Raut arrested

The Shiv Sena MP was arrested by ED in a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the redevelopment of a Mumbai chawl and related transactions involving his wife and 'associates' on July 31. According to sources, Raut was arrested for 'non-cooperation', with ED alleging that 'unaccounted cash' to the tune of Rs 11 lakh was recovered during the 9-hour-long raids at his Bhandup residence.

Sources have revealed that the ED is also probing Sanjay Raut’s role in a money laundering case related to Pearls Agrotech Corporation Ltd, involved in the Rs 45,000 crore chit fund scam. In February, ED had carried out searches at 3 locations in Thane linked to Pravin Raut. They have recorded the statement of one person in the Pearl scam who has named Sanjay Raut, Republic has learnt.