Sanjay Raut sent to ED custody for 4 days after arrest in graft case

The special Prevention of Money Laundering Act court on Monday remanded Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut in ED custody till August 4.

The special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court on Monday remanded Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut to the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) custody till August 4, after the agency claimed that the Shiv Sena MP and his family members an amount of ₹1.06 crore of “tainted money” from his “front man” Pravin Raut, who was arrested in the case earlier.

hiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut while being taken for a medical check-up at JJ Hospital in Mumbai on Monday. (ANI)

ED arrested Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut late on Sunday night in connection with a money laundering case related to the Patra Chawl redevelopment project. “This is an attempt to finish us,” he said while being taken to the special court.

The agency on Monday produced him before the special PMLA court amid tight security. ED’s counsel, Hiten Venegaonkar claimed that Sanjay Raut and his family members were direct beneficiaries of ₹1.06 crore of the ₹112 crore received by Pravin Raut, from HDIL in 2010-11.

Of this, Rs. 13.94 lakh was shown to have been received by Varsha Raut as return on her investment of Rs. 5,625 in Avani Infrastructure, a firm floated in the name of Pravin Raut’s wife Madhuri. Claiming the Shiv Sena MP was also part of the larger conspiracy hatched by the Wadhawans of HDIL  and Pravin Raut, ED in its remand application added that the firm , Avani Infrastructure was promoted by the two Rauts.

Apart from the amount of ₹13.94 lakh, ED’s remand application added, Pravin Raut in 2009-10 transferred an amount of ₹55 lakh to Varsha Raut’s bank account; and in 2011 an amount of ₹37.50 lakh was transferred from the Pravin Raut controlled Prathamesh Developers , as return for the Shiv Sena leader’s investment of ₹29.50 lakh in the company.

“Pravin Raut was the front-man of Sanjay Raut,” Venegaonkar claimed in court, adding that the agency has traced the trail of ₹1.06 crore flowing from Pravin Raut to Sanjay Raut and his family members. He also pointed out that the money was used to buy 10 plots of land at Kihim near Alibag , with 60- 70% of the cost paid in cash.

“Sanjay Raut also received ₹2 lakh from Pravin Raut every month” Venegaonkar said. He added that Pravin Raut also sponsored several foreign trips of the Shiv Sena leader and his family.

ED’s lawyer said that Sanjay Raut tried to tamper with evidence and threatened key witnesses under examination, without referring to the complaint filed by Swapna Patkar, the estranged wife of an aide of Raut and a witness in the case. Last week, she filed a complaint to the effect.

Senior advocate Ashok Mundargi, who represented Raut, claimed the arrest was prompted by political vendetta and all allegations levelled against the Shiv Sena leader are speculative.

ED’s money laundering case is based on the FIR registered by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police in March 2018 against real estate company Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited (HDIL) promoters Rakesh Wadhawan and his son Sarang Wadhawan, Guruashish Construction Pvt Ltd — a subsidiary of HDIL that undertook the redevelopment of Patra Chawl in Goregaon — and its director Pravin Raut, among others.

Guruashish Construction took up the redevelopment of Siddharth Nagar, popularly known as Patra Chawl and owned by MHADA, spread over 47-acres in the heart of Goregaon in north Mumbai and rehabilitation of the 672 tenants residing 265-squre-feet tenements in 16 old buildings in what is termed as the biggest chawl system in Mumbai’s western suburbs. The Patra Chawl was originally a barrack constructed by the British Government during the Second World War.

According to the ED, on November 2011, an agreement was executed between the housing society formed by Patra Chawl tenants, Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) and Guruashish Construcdtion. The estimated cost of the project was ₹1,017 crore. Under the agreement, 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 MHADA.

Investigation conducted by ED has revealed that Guruashish Contruction, however, sold the entire floor space index of the rehabilitation project to nine builders and collected ₹901.79 crore from them without constructing the buildings for the tenants and for MHADA. The developer also collected an additional amount of ₹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.

ED’s investigation revealed that while the project remained a non-starter, around ₹100 crore was transferred from real estate company HDIL, to the account of Pravin Raut, a former director of Guruashish Construction, who, in turn, diverted part of these funds to various accounts of his close associates, family members, and their business entities.

On May 4, when ED attached some of the properties belonging to Sanjay Raut’s wife Varsha Raut, the agency claimed that in 2010, part of the proceeds amounting to ₹83 lakh was received by Varsha Raut directly / indirectly from Pravin Raut’s wife Madhuri Raut. This amount of ₹83 lakh, the agency claimed, was utilized by Varsha Raut for purchasing a flat at Dadar and eight plots of land at Kihim beach (in her own name and in the name of Swapna Patkar). After ED began probe in the offence, Varsha Raut transferred ₹55 lakh back to Madhuri Raut.

In December 2020, ED provisionally attached Pravin Raut’s immovable assets worth ₹72.65 crore in connection with the fraud at Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank, caused by HDIL’s default on loans taken from the lender.

ED previously arrested Rakesh Wadhawan, his son Sarang and Pravin Raut in connection with the money laundering case. All of them are currently in judicial custody.