Patra Chawl case: Sena leader Sanjay Raut’s bail plea likely to be heard today

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut, an accused in the Patra Chawl case, has filed a bail application in the Special Prevention of Money Laundering Act court

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut, an accused in the Patra Chawl case, has filed a bail application in the Special Prevention of Money Laundering Act court.

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut PTI

“The bail plea was filed on Tuesday and it is scheduled to come up for hearing on Thursday,” Raut’s lawyer Vikrant Sabne said.

The enforcement directorate (ED) arrested Raut on July 31. The agency claimed that the Sena MP and his family members were the direct beneficiaries of ₹2.50 crore out of the ₹112 crore received by Pravin Raut from HDIL (Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited) in 2010-11. It also said that Pravin was Sanjay’s front man.

Besides, the ED alleged, Sanjay Raut received ₹2 lakh from Pravin every month.

The agency has claimed that during their probe into the money trail, it was revealed that the money transferred from Pravin to Sanjay and his family members was used to buy 10 plots of land at Kihim near Alibag, with 60%-70% of the cost paid in cash.

The agency’s case is based on an FIR registered by the Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai police in March 2018 against HDIL promoters Rakesh Wadhawan and his son Sarang, Guruashish Construction Private Limited, and its former director Pravin, among others.

Guruashish Construction, a subsidiary of HDIL, had taken up the redevelopment of Siddharth Nagar, popularly known as Patra Chawl, spread over 47 acres in Goregaon and owned by the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA). The project, estimated at ₹1,017 crore, was aimed to rehabilitate the 672 tenants residing in 265 square feet tenements in 16 old buildings.

According to the ED, an agreement was executed between the housing society formed by Patra Chawl tenants, the MHADA, and Guruashish Construction on November 2011. Guruashish Construction was to give one 767 square feet built-up area flat to each of the 672 tenants and 2,28,961 square feet constructed area to the MHADA.

The ED investigation has revealed that Guruashish Contruction, however, sold the entire floor space index of the project to nine builders and collected ₹901.79 crore from them without constructing the rehabilitation buildings and the MHADA portions. The developer also collected an additional ₹138 crore from 458 prospective flat buyers by launching a project at the site – thus taking the total proceeds of crime to ₹1,039.79 crore.

The agency also found out that while the project was at a standstill, around ₹100 crore was transferred from HDIL to the account of Pravin, who in turn diverted part of these funds to various accounts of his close associates, family members, and their business entities.