ED arrests Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut in Patra Chawl scam case

NEW DELHI: Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday at 12 a.m. in connection with a prevention of money laundering case pertaining to the Rs 1,034 crore Patra chawl land scam case.

Earlier on Sunday, Raut was taken into custody by the ED but was not arrested.

The ED had sent several summons to the Sena leader which he skipped, following which he has been arrested.

Earlier, a month back he had even dared the ED to arrest him.

Raut will be presented before the Mumbai court on Monday morning.

The ED had earlier sent Pune businessman Avinash Bhosale into custody in DHFL-Yes Bank case, and the sources claimed that they wanted to grill Raut in this matter too.

Sources claimed that Patra Chawl case of ED is also linked to the DHFL case.

The Shiv Sena leader earlier took to Twitter to allege that he was being victimised on the instructions of the Centre.

In April, the ED had attached Raut's property in connection with the land scam.

A property worth Rs 9 crore of Raut's associate Pravin Raut and assets worth Rs 2 crore belonging to Varsha Raut, the wife of Sanjay Raut, were attached by the ED.

Pravin had eight parcels of land in Alibaug and a flat registered in the name of Varsha Raut which were attached. The ED had arrested Pravin in connection with the matter.

"We had filed a chargesheet in the matter against Pravin, Sarang Wadhawan and Rakesh Wadhawan of HDIL and Guru Ashish Construction and others were named as an accused in the chargesheet," said an ED official.

The ED came to know during the probe that Pravin allegedly paid Rs 55 lakh to Varsha. This was paid from the bank account of Pravin's wife.

The money was termed as proceeds of crime by the ED.

It was also alleged that the travel expenses of Sanjay Raut were borne by Pravin which included his hotel stay and air tickets.