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ED issues fresh summons to Sanjay Raut for July 1 in land scam case
Terming the ED notice as a “conspiracy” to stop him from fighting his political opponents, Raut on Monday sought more time from the agency
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday issued fresh summons to Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, asking him to appear on July 1 for questioning in a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the redevelopment of a chawl in Mumbai’s Goregaon area, and financial transactions purportedly involving his wife, officials familiar with the matter said.
The Rajya Sabha member was issued the first summons for Tuesday. Terming the ED notice as a “conspiracy” to stop him from fighting his political opponents, Raut on Monday sought more time from the agency that investigate financial crimes, citing a meeting he was supposed to attend at Alibaug in Maharashtra’s Raigad district.
Raut’s lawyer on Tuesday met ED officials at Ballard Estate and requested 14 days’ time.
“We received the first summons on Monday evening. The agency officials had asked us to bring certain documents,” Raut’s lawyer told reporters after the meeting. “As Raut will require some time to collect the documents, we requested the agency officials to grant us 14 days to do the needful.”
But the central agency rejected the request and gave Raut relief only till the end of June and summoned him for questioning on July 1.
The ED summons to question the 60-year-old Raut and record his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) have come at a time when his party, the Shiv Sena, is battling a rebellion from a group of its legislators and struggling to save the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.
Rebel Sena legislators are camping in Guwahati.
“I am a lawmaker. I know the law. Even if the law implementing agencies are working in the wrong way, I am a law-abiding person,” Raut told reporters at a media briefing on Tuesday morning.
The money laundering case is based on a first information report (FIR) registered by the economic offences wing (EOW) of Mumbai Police in 2018 against Rakesh and Sarang Wadhawan, promoters of real estate company Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) and main accused in the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) bank fraud case, Guru Ashish Construction — a subsidiary company of HDIL that undertook the redevelopment project of Patra chawl in Goregaon — and its director Pravin Raut, among others, ED officials said.
A tripartite agreement was signed between the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), Guru Ashish Construction and a society formed by the tenants for redevelopment of Patra chawl in 2008, according to ED officials. Under the agreement, the developer had to provide flats to rehabilitate 672 tenants as well as build a certain number of flats for authority 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 total proceeds of the crime generated by directors of Guru Ashish Constructions Pvt Ltd through illegal activities was about ₹1,039.79 crore. Part of the proceeds of crime was further transferred to close associates,” ED claimed.
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”.
This amount was further “diverted” by Pravin Raut, a close associate of Sena MP, to various accounts of his close associates, family members, his business entities etc., ED said.
Pravin, who was arrested on February 2, is believed to be a close aide of the Sena MP and is also an accused in the PMC bank fraud case. ED filed a charge sheet against Pravin Raut in April.
“During 2010, part of the proceeds of crime of ₹83 lakh was received by Varsha Raut (wife of Sanjay Raut) directly/indirectly from Madhuri Pravin 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.
She, however, transferred ₹55 lakh back to Madhuri Raut after a money laundering probe was started in the matter in 2018, ED said.
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.
“In this land deal, apart from the registered value, cash payments were made to the sellers,” the agency said in its statement.
As part of its probe, ED has attached properties worth ₹11.15 crore in April, 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.
The agency also questioned Varsha Raut last year in connection with the PMC Bank case and her purported links with Pravin Raut’s wife.
