Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut was arrested on Monday hours after questioning by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the re-development of the Patra Chawl in Mumbai. Raut has alleged that he is being targeted by the Centre to weaken the position of team Thackeray, which recently suffered defections.

Raut was taken into custody at 12:05 am on Monday by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) as he was not cooperating in the probe, News18 reported.

A team of the ED had reached Raut’s residence in Mumbai’s Bhandup area at 7am on Sunday. They conducted a search, questioned Raut, and by evening, summoned him for questioning at the agency’s local office to which he did not cooperate. The team also seized about Rs 11.5 lakh in cash during the search, out of which Rs 10 lakh was kept as CM Eknath Shinde’s money. Before entering the ED office, Raut told reporters that he was being framed in a ‘false’ case and the Centre is trying to weaken the Shiv Sena.

As per the report, the ED is likely to seek 10-day custody of Sanjay Raut in the Patra Chawl land scam case.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi has given a suspension of business notice in Rajya Sabha on the 'Misuse of ED' to silence opposition leaders.

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: Sanjay Raut detained by ED after raids in Patra Chawl land scam case

Shiv Sena workers have been protesting since Sunday following the raid by ED. Shiv Sena workers will stage protests today as well against the arrest of the party MP Sanjay Raut and his MLA brother Sunil Raut.

What is Patra Chawl land scam case?

In 2007-08, Guru Ashish Constructions (GAC) was awarded a contract for the redevelopment of Patra Chawl by MHADA (Maharashtra Housing and Development Authority). Guru Ashish Constructions is a sister concern or subsidiary of HDIL, which is facing a loan fraud case by the CBI.

Siddharth Nagar, which is popularly known as Patra Chawl, is in the northern Mumbai suburb of Goregaon. The chawl had a total of 672 houses, spread over an area of 47 acres.

The Guru Ashish Constructions was to develop flats for the 672 tenants of Patra Chawl and about 3000 flats had to be handed over to MHADA. A tripartite agreement was signed between GACPL, the tenants’ society, and MHADA and the total land parcel of 47 acres was determined. After handing over the flats to MHADA and Patra Chawl tenants, the remaining land was to be allowed for sale and development by Guru Ashish Constructions.

However, GAC reportedly misled the MHADA and sold FSI (Floor Space Index) to 9 builders for Rs 901.79 crore and without constructing the rehab portion for the 672 displaced tenants and the MHADA portion.

GAC also launched a project called Meadows and took the booking amount of around Rs 138 crore from flat buyers. The ED has alleged that the total proceeds of the scam through these ‘illegal activities’ of GAC stand at Rs 1039.79 crore.

It has been 14 years since the project was given to GAC and the people of Patra Chawl continue to wait to get their homes.

Separately, it was found that from accounts of HDIL around Rs 100 crore was transferred to Pravin Raut, a former director of GAC and close associate of Sanjay Raut. In February 2020, Pravin Raut was arrested by EOW and was later released on bail.

ED has claimed that Pravin Raut diverted Rs 100 crore to various accounts of his close associates, and family members, including the family of Sanjay Raut.

The ED has alleged that in 2010, Maduri Pravin Raut, wife of Pravin Raut transferred Rs 83 lakh to Sanjay Raut’s wife Varsha Raut as an unsecured loan. Varsha Raut then used the money to buy a flat in Dadar. Apart from this, at least eight plots of land were purchased at Kihim beach at Alibaug in Maharashtra in the name of Varsha Raut and Swapna Patkar, wife of Sujit Patkar, a close associate of Sanjay Raut.

In April, the properties of Varsha Raut, including the Dadar flat and the 8 plots and properties of Pravin Raut totalling Rs 11.8 crore were attached by the ED.

ALSO READ: Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut to appear before ED on July 1 in Patra Chawl land scam case

(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)