MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) produced Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut before a special court on Monday in connection with an alleged money laundering case in the Rs 1,200-crore Patra Chawl redevelopment case. He was remanded to ED custody till August 4.
Submitting that Raut and his family benefitted to the tune of Rs 1.06 crore, the ED sought eight days’ custody.
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Raut was arrested a little after Sunday midnight following an eight-hour raid at his Bhandup bungalow, during which Rs 11. 5 lakh in cash was seized.
"Considering the compass of inquiry and volume of matter, I strongly feel that custodial interrogation is necessary. It cannot be ignored that a chargesheet has been filed against Pravin Raut long back,” special judge M G Deshpande said.
He added, “Everything is already documented and available for prosecution to investigate. Even a trail of money in the accused's (Sanay Raut) wife's bank account can be investigated by obtaining bank statements. Therefore, in my opinion, long ED custody for eight days is not warranted. In order to investigate crime thoroughly, prayer of ED for custody deserves to be allowed partly. The accused is remanded to ED custody till August 4."
The Patra Chawl redevelopment fraud case involves alleged payoffs to businessman and Raut’s close aide Pravin Raut, who the ED suspects is a front for politicians.
In 2007, HDIL subsidiary Guru Ashish Construction had taken over the redevelopment of Patra Chawl in Goregaon (W) after entering into an agreement with Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority, the land owner, and tenants.
Pravin and HDIL promoters Rakesh Wadhawan and son Sarang were directors in Guru Ashish Construction.
Pravin allegedly received Rs 50 crore after he exited the company and another Rs 45 crore from a land deal at Palghar from the HDIL group.
In February, the ED arrested Pravin and chargesheeted him after
alleging that he “received Rs 112 crore between 2008 and 2010 from HDIL in multiple installments and failed to give valid reasons”.
In April, the ED had provisionally attached a flat in Dadar owned by Raut’s wife Varsha and eight land parcels in Alibaug jointly owned by her and businessman Sujit Patkar’s estranged wife Swapna in Alibaug, collectively valued at Rs 11 crore.
It is alleged that Pravin had generated money from the redevelopment fraud and via Patkar had diverted it to buy land in Alibaug in the names of Varsha and Swapna.
