Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, had his judicial custody in the Patra Chawl land scam case extended on Monday by an additional 14 days. The hearing for his bail plea was scheduled on Wednesday before a PMLA court (September 21).
Following a court order, Enforcement Directorate agents sent a copy of the chargesheet to Sanjay Raut’s attorney, according to news agency ANI.
He was first sent to ED detention through August 4; this was later extended. The judicial custody is related to the money laundering investigation into irregularities in the redevelopment of Mumbai’s Patra “Chawl.”
After the anti-money laundering organisation conducted raids at Raut’s Mumbai home, which were followed by his detention and questioning, Raut was taken into custody by the Enforcement Directorate on August 1. His wife Varsha Raut had also been summoned, and the central agency had questioned her on August 6.
In an earlier court filing, the investigation agency claimed that Raut and his family had collected “proceeds of crime” of more than Rs 1 crore that were the result of purported violations in the housing renovation project.
As part of its investigation, the ED temporarily attached Varsha Raut’s and two of Sanjay Raut’s colleagues’ assets in April totaling more than Rs 11.15 crore. The properties are in the form of land owned by Sanjay Raut’s assistant and former Guru Ashish Construction Private Limited director Pravin M. Raut in the towns of Palghar, Saphale, and Padgha (in Thane district).
Included in the properties are eight plots at the Kihim beach in Alibaug jointly owned by Varsha Raut and Swapna Patkar, the wife of Sujit Patkar, a “close colleague” of Sanjay Raut, according to the ED. There is also a flat owned by Varsha Raut in the Mumbai neighbourhood of Dadar.
The Maharashtra Housing Area Development Authority (MHADA) owned 47 acres of the chawl, which had 672 tenants living in tenements there, and Guru Ashish Construction Private Limited was involved in its redevelopment, the ED had earlier stated.
