Mumbai:Sanjay Raut arrives at ED office for questioning in money laundering case

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut will record his statement before ED in a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in a redevelopment project in Goregaon and financial transactions purportedly involving his wife

Shiv Sena member of Parliament (MP) Sanjay Raut has arrived at the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office in Mumbai’s Ballard Estate to record his statement in a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in a redevelopment project in Goregaon and financial transactions purportedly involving his wife.

Mumbai: Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut arrives at the Enforcement Directorate office for questioning in an alleged money laundering case linked to the redevelopment of Patra Chawl, in Mumbai, Friday, July 1, 2022. (PTI Photo) (PTI07_01_2022_000062B) (PTI)

Before entering the ED office at around 11.50am on Friday, Raut spoke to media persons and said, “I am not even aware where exactly the Patra Chawl is. I have nothing to do with this land scam. I have done nothing wrong in my life. As a responsible and law abiding citizen and MP I have come here to answer the questions of ED.”

ED’s case is based on a first information report (FIR) registered by economic offences wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police in 2018 against Rakesh and Sarang Wadhawan, promoters of the real estate company ,Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL), Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of HDIL that undertook the redevelopment of Patra Chawl in Goregaon and its director Pravin Raut among others.

According to ED officials, a tripartite agreement was signed between the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), Guru Ashish Construction and the society formed by the tenants for redevelopment of Patra chawl in 2008. Under the agreement, the developer had to provide flats to rehabilitate 672 tenants as well as build a certain number of flats for MHADA before selling the remaining area, ED had said earlier.

“The probe revealed that Guru Ashish misled MHADA and collected ₹901.79 crore without constructing the rehab component buildings for 672 displaced tenants and for MHADA. Subsequently, the company launched another project, Meadows, and collected ₹138 crore from flat buyers,” the agency said.

The agency further said that its probe so far has found that around ₹100 crore were transferred from HDIL to the account of Pravin Raut, who was arrested in the case on February 2. This amount was further “diverted” by Pravin Raut, a close associate of the Sena MP, to various accounts of his associates, family members, his business entities etc., ED said.

“In 2010, part of the proceeds of crime, ₹83 lakh, was received by Varsha Raut, wife of Sanjay Raut, directly/indirectly from Madhuri Raut, wife of Pravin Raut,” ED said in a statement earlier. “This amount was utilised by Varsha Raut for purchase of flat at Dadar east,” the agency claimed.

Besides, eight plots of land at Kihim beach in Alibaug were purchased in the name of Varsha Raut and Swapna Patkar, wife of Sujit Patkar who is another close associate of Sanjay Raut, ED said.

As part of its probe, in April ED attached properties worth ₹11.15 crore belonging to Varsha Raut, including the flat in Dadar and plots in Kihim, officials said. ED also attached Pravin Raut’s immovable assets worth ₹72.6 crore in connection with the PMC bank fraud case in December 2020.