Mumbai The Enforcement Directorate (ED) searched three locations in Mumbai on Wednesday in connection with the ongoing investigation into the Patra Chawl case, in which veteran Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut was arrested on August 1.
According to ED officers, searches were conducted at three premises of a real estate development firm. The agency searched the firm’s head office in Vikhroli, as well as two other premises in Bhandup and Mulund.
“Documents as well as other evidence relevant to the investigation are being taken into custody. The searches are being conducted on the basis of certain facts that have come to light in the probe and need to be corroborated,” an ED officer said.
The agency has alleged financial malpractices to the tune of a whopping ₹1,034 crore in the redevelopment of the Patra Chawl in Goregaon, in which Raut and his family members as well as associates are alleged to have benefitted. Raut is currently in judicial custody.
According to the ED’s investigations so far, Guruashish Construction Pvt Ltd was entrusted with the work of re-development of the Patra Chawl, which had 672 tenants in tenements on 47 acres belonging to the Maharashtra Housing Area Development Authority (MHADA). The firm is alleged to have misled MHADA and, through various illegal activities, made illicit profits amounting to ₹1,039.79 crore. ED said that part of these proceeds were routed to Raut and his associates.
The ED had earlier attached assets worth over ₹11.15 crore belonging to Raut’s wife Varsha and Raut’s aide, Pravin Raut, who is the former director of Guruashish Construction Pvt Ltd, based in the Thane district. The attached assets also included some plots of land jointly owned by Varsha and Swapna Patkar, whose husband Sujit is said to be a close associate of Raut.
Pravin was arrested in the case in February this year, while Varsha has been questioned by the ED twice so far.