Mumbai court extends Sanjay Raut’s judicial custody till September 5

A special court here on Monday extended the judicial custody of Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut till September 5 in a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the redevelopment of a Mumbai ‘chawl’.

Raut, 60, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on August 1 in connection with alleged financial irregularities in the redevelopment of the Patra Chawl (row tenement) in suburban Goregaon.

After being in the ED’s custody initially, the Sena leader was sent to judicial custody for 14 days on August 8.

An agency team had on July 31 reached his residence in Mumbai’s Bhandup area, where they conducted a search, questioned Raut, and summoned him for questioning at the agency’s local office. The team also seized Rs 11.5 lakh in cash during the search, the officials said.

The ED probe pertains to alleged financial irregularities in the redevelopment of Patra ‘chawl’ and related financial property transactions involving his wife and alleged associates.

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 attached properties are in the form of land held by Pravin M Raut, Sanjay Raut’s aide and a former director of Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd, at Palghar, Saphale (town in Palghar) and Padgha (in Thane district).

These assets also include a flat in Mumbai’s suburb Dadar held by Varsha Raut and eight plots at Kihim beach in Alibaug jointly held by Varsha Raut and Swapna Patkar, wife of Sujit Patkar, a “close associate” of Sanjay Raut, the ED had said.

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.

On Monday, special Judge M G Deshpande, hearing cases related to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), extended Raut’s custody till August 30.

The ED told the court that its probe into the case was still on.

The ED’s investigation pertains to alleged financial irregularities in the redevelopment of the Patra ‘chawl’ and related financial transactions involving Raut’s wife and associates.

Raut, a close aide of Shiv Sena president and former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, has denied any wrongdoing and called the ED case against him “false”.

PTI