Sanjay Raut, a member of the Shiv Sena party, was called by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday for interrogation over money laundering and other financial activities involving his wife, acquaintances, and family members, sources said.
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"Arrest me" was the Rajya Sabha MP's remark on Twitter on the summons from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to appear before the agency in Mumbai and provide a statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The Shiv Sena is fighting a mutiny from a handful of its MLAs, which has placed the survival of Maharashtra's Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) administration in doubt. In Guwahati, Shiv Sena rebel MPs have set up a makeshift camp after being transported from Surat."I just came to know that the ED has summoned me.
"Good! There are big political developments in Maharashtra. We, Balasaheb's Shivsainiks, are fighting a big battle. This is a conspiracy to stop me. Even if you behead me, I won't take the Guwahati route.
"Arrest me! Jai Hind!" a defiant Raut said on Twitter.
In April, the ED provisionally attached assets worth more than Rs 11.15 crore of Raut's wife Varsha Raut and two of his associates as part of this investigation.
The attached properties are in the form of land held by Pravin M Raut, Sanjay Raut's aide and a former director of Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd, at Palghar, Saphale (town in Palghar) and Padgha (in Thane district). The attached properties also include a flat in Mumbai's suburb Dadar held by Varsha Raut and eight plots at Kihim beach in Alibaug jointly held by Varsha Raut and Swapna Patkar, wife of Sujit Patkar, the ED said in a statement. According to the ED, Sujit Patkar is a close associate of Sanjay Raut.
What is the Patra Chawl case?
Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd was involved in 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 ED had said earlier. Guru Ashish is a subsidiary company of the Housing Development Infrastructure Ltd. (HDIL).
HDIL is under investigation by the ED and few other agencies in connection with the about Rs 4,300 crore alleged fraud at the Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank.
ED said Guru Ashish had entered into a "tripartite agreement' with the tenants and MHADA to re-develop the 'chawl'.
According to the agreement, the ED said, the developer had to provide flats to 672 tenants and develop flats for MHADA. Thereafter, the remaining area was to be sold by the developer.
"The directors of Guru Ashish Constructions mislead MHADA and managed to sell the FSI (floor space index) to nine developers and collected about Rs 901.79 crore without constructing the rehab portion for 672 displaced tenants and MHADA portion," it said.
This realty company also launched a project called Meadows and took the booking of amount of around Rs 138 crore from flat buyers.
"The total proceeds of the crime generated by directors of Guru Ashish Constructions Pvt. Ltd l. Through illegal activities was about Rs 1,039.79 crore. Part of the proceeds of crime was further transferred to close associates," it alleged.
The ED probe, conducted so far, found that "around Rs 100 crore were transferred from HDIL to the account of Pravin Raut".
This amount was further "diverted" by Pravin Raut to various accounts of his close associates, family member, his business entities etc, it said.
"During 2010, part of the proceeds of crime of Rs 83 lakh was received by Varsha Raut, wife of Sanjay Raut, directly/indirectly from Madhuri Pravin Raut, wife of Pravin Raut."
"This amount was utilised by Varsha Raut for purchase of flat at Dadar east," the agency alleged.
ED investigations found that an amount of Rs 55 lakh was transferred back by Varsha Raut to Madhuri Raut. There are various other transactions too, it said.
The agency had questioned Varsha Raut last year in connection with the PMC Bank case and her purported links with Pravin Raut's wife.
Probe found that Varsha Sanjay Raut and Madhuri Pravin Raut "are partners in Avani Construction and Varsha Raut has received Rs 12 lakh from this entity (as overdrawn capital converted to loan) on a contribution of mere Rs 5,625".
(With inputs from PTI)
