ED claims Raut got Rs 1 cr; gets his custody till Aug 4

MUMBAI: Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut and his family received “proceeds of crime” worth over Rs 1 one crore generated out of alleged irregularities in a housing redevelopment project in Mumbai, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) told a special court here on Monday.

The ED made this claim while seeking Sanjay Raut’s custody in a money laundering case pertaining to irregularities in the redevelopment of Patra ‘Chawl’ (old row tenement) in suburban Goregaon and related financial property transactions involving his wife and alleged associates.

Sanjay Raut, however, claimed the allegations against him were “vague” and raised out of “political vendetta”.

Special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court Judge M G Deshpande later sent the Sena leader to the ED custody till August 4.

The 60-year-old politician, a close aide of Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, was arrested after over six hours of questioning at the ED zonal office in south Mumbai’s Ballard Estate shortly after Sunday midnight.

The federal probe agency produced him before the special PMLA court here and sought his custody for eight days.

The ED, represented by special public prosecutor Hiten Venegaonkar, told the court Raut and his family were direct beneficiaries of the “proceeds of crime”.

Giving an account of the probe, the ED told the court that 47 acres of land at Patra Chawl belongs to MHADA (Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority) and there were 672 tenants at the said plot.