New Delhi: A special Mumbai court on Monday sent senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut, who has been under the Enforcement Directorate’s custody in an alleged money laundering case linked to Patra Chawl in Mumbai, till August 22. While sending Raut to judicial custody till 22nd August, the Mumbai special court also allowed all medicines to him during his custody. PMLA Court Special Judge MG Deshpande granted Raut judicial remand after the ED informed that it did not require his additional custody for the probe into the Rs 1,034-crore scam.
Interestingly, Raut’s legal team said that it will not move any bail plea for him today after he was sent to judicial custody.
Initially, he was sent to ED custody till August 4 which was further extended till August 8. His judicial custody is in connection with the money laundering case linked to irregularities involving the redevelopment of Patra ‘Chawl’ in Mumbai.
Seeking the Shiv Sena MP’s custody, the ED had told a special PMLA court in Mumbai that Raut and his family received “proceeds of crime” worth over Rs one crore generated out of alleged irregularities in the housing redevelopment project, PTI reported.
Before Sanjay Raut’s arrest, the officials raided his home after which, they detained and questioned him for several hours.
The Shiv Sena leader was arrested on August 1 in connection with alleged financial irregularities in the redevelopment of the Patra Chawl (row tenement) in suburban Goregaon. Raut was found to be a beneficiary of Rs 1.17 crore of proceeds of crime in addition to Rs 1.06 crore that had come to light earlier, it claimed.
The documents seized during the probe showed the purchase of properties at Alibaug in neighbouring Raigad district by Raut involved substantial cash transactions, the ED said. As much as Rs 1.08 crore was found in the bank account of Sanjay Raut’s wife Varsha Raut, the probe agency had claimed.
The ED on Saturday questioned Varsha Raut for more than nine hours in connection with the case and recorded her statement. Sanjay Raut, 60, is a close aide of Shiv Sena president and former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.
He has denied any wrongdoing and called the ED case against him “false”.
Bureau Report
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