Special PMLA court in Mumbai awarded eight-day custody of Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Patra chawl land scam case. The court said that Raut will be quizzed between 10 am and 10 pm in the case wherein Rs 112 crore has been siphoned off. It added that Raut can meet his lawyers for an hour from 8:30 am to 9:30 am.

The ED arrested Raut in a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the redevelopment of a Mumbai 'chawl' after conducting a nine-hour search at his residence, during which Rs 11.5 lakh in cash was seized, officials said.

The ED made scathing charges against Raut saying he skipped summons thrice and also tried to tamper with the evidence, and influence witnesses. The agency also listed that Rs 37 lakh was transferred by businessman Pravin Raut to Shiv Sena MP.

Raut was arrested after over six hours of questioning at the ED's zonal office in south Mumbai's Ballard Estate shortly after Sunday midnight. He was taken into custody at 12:05 am on Monday under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) as he was not cooperating in the probe, the officials claimed. The ED probe pertains to alleged financial irregularities in the redevelopment of Patra 'chawl' and related financial property transactions involving his wife and alleged associates.

In April, the ED provisionally attached assets worth over Rs 11.15 crore belonging to his wife Varsha Raut and two of his associates as part of this investigation.

The attached properties are in the form of land held by Pravin M Raut, Sanjay Raut's aide and a former director of Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd, at Palghar, Saphale (town in Palghar) and Padgha (in Thane district). These assets also include a flat in Mumbai's suburb Dadar held by Varsha Raut and eight plots at Kihim beach in Alibaug jointly held by Varsha Raut and Swapna Patkar, wife of Sujit Patkar, a "close associate" of Sanjay Raut, the ED had said.

The agency is understood to have questioned the Sena leader about his "business and other links" with Pravin Raut and Patkar and also about the property deals involving his wife.

First Published:Aug 1, 2022 3:51 PM IST