ED summons Sanjay Raut's wife for questioning on Dec 29

Mumbai, Dec 28: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Varsha Raut, wife of Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut in connection with the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank scam case. She has been asked to join the investigation on December 29.

 

 

She was first summoned on December 11. This is the third summons issued to her after she skipped the earlier two on health grounds. It must be noted that if a person skips three summons in a row then the ED can take legal and judicial action against the person. In September last year, the RBI had capped the withdrawal limit and restricted the activities of the PMC Bank after an alleged fraud of Rs 4,355 crore came to light.

 

In October, the ED had later seized and identified movable and immovable assets worth more than Rs 3,830 crore owned by Housing Development Infrastructures Ltd (HDIL) in connection with the case and its promoters Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan and his son Sarang Wadhawan, its former chairman Waryam Singh and ex-managing director Joy Thomas. The summons has been issued to her under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

 

The Shiv Sena, which is part of Maharashtra's ruling alliance Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) along with the NCP and the Congress, had earlier alleged that central probe agencies have been targeting them unfairly.

 

Former BJP leader Eknath Khadse, who recently joined Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), has also been summoned by the ED for questioning on December 30 in Mumbai in connection with a money laundering case linked to a land deal in Pune's Bhosri area.