Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials on Sunday detained Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut in connection with the Patra Chawl land scam case in Mumbai after hours of conducting raids on his residence.
In a video tweeted by news agency ANI, Raut, wearing a saffron scarf, can be seen waving at his supporters, who had gathered outside his residence, while being taken by the ED officials.
Raut’s family members, including his wife Varsha Raut, can also be seen getting emotional standing by a window of his residence. Raut left his house in his own car.
ED sleuths had reached Raut’s residence around 7 am. On June 28 this year, Sanjay Raut was summoned by the ED in connection with the prevention of the money laundering case pertaining to the ₹1,034 crore Patra Chawl land scam.
Refusing to join the probe and citing the Monsoon session of Parliament as a reason for not joining the probe, he had then dared the probe agency to arrest him. Later, he reached the ED office.
The ED, which took Pune-based businessman Avinash Bhosale into custody earlier in connection with the DHFL-Yes Bank case, wants to grill Raut in this matter too. They claimed that Patra Chawl case of ED is also linked to the DHFL case.
In April, the ED provisionally attached assets worth over ₹11.15 crore of 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).
The attached properties 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, the ED said in a statement.
According to the ED, Sujit Patkar is a close associate of Sanjay Raut. After arresting Pravin Raut in February, the ED had said he appears to be “acting as a front” or in collusion with some influential person(s).
The agency had said during the probe it was revealed he made payments to certain “politically exposed persons”.
