Why was Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut arrested by ED? All you need to know-

Mumbai, Aug 1: Shiv Sena Sanjay Raut MP was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the redevelopment of a Mumbai 'chawl' - Patra Chawl. This came after the ED on Sunday raided the Bhandup residence in Mumbai of Sanjay Raut.

 

 

ED conducted a 9 hour search at his residence where Rs 11.5 lakh in cash was seized. He was arrested after 6 hours of questioning at ED's zonal office in south Mumbai's Ballard Estate. Raut will be produced before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Mumbai on Monday, where the ED will seek his custody.

 

 

 

 

The ED had summoned Raut in connection with a money laundering case related to redevelopment fraud of Patra Chawl in Mumbai. Raut however, refused to appear twice, citing the ongoing parliament session and had sought exemption from appearance till August 7, which was refused by the ED.

 

 

 

 

In 2007-08, the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) took up the redevelopment project and gave the contract to Guru Ashish Construction Private Limited (GACPL) to rehabilitate 672 tenants and to redevelop the locality. The requirement from Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd was that they had to develop flats for 672 tenants of Patra Chawl. Then they could sell the remaining area to private developers.

 

However, Sanjay Raut's close aide Pravin Raut along with other directors of Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd did not construct any homes for the 672 tenants. Rather, they sold the FSI or floor space index to nine private developers. It is alleged that they got Rs 901.79 crore for the same. Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd is accused of then starting a new project and collecting Rs 138 crore from flat buyers as a booking amount. So the total money collected from the alleged crimes is Rs 1,039.79 crore as per ED.

 

 

It is alleged that Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd director Pravin Raut got Rs 100 crore from HDIL and then 'diverted' it to many accounts including Sanjay Raut's wife Varsha's account. In 2010, Rs 83 lakh which were part of the Rs 100 crore was given to Varsha Raut through Pravin Raut's wife Madhuri Raut. Sanjay Raut's wife Varsha bought a flat in Dadar using that money. After that, there were various transactions between them as per reports.

 

Apart from this, eight plots of land at Kihim beach in Alibaug were bought in the names of Varsha Raut and Swapna Patkar, wife of Sujit Patkar through cash payments. Sujit is known to be a close aide of Sanjay Raut. In April, the ED provisionally attached assets worth over Rs 11.15 crore belonging to his wife Varsha Raut and two of his associates as part of this investigation.

 

The agency is understood to have questioned the Sena leader about his "business and other links" with Pravin Raut and Patkar and also about the property deals involving his wife.