Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut was on Monday summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a prevention of money laundering case pertaining to the Rs 1,034 crore Patra chawl land scam amid the political crisis in Maharashtra.
The ED has asked Raut to appear in its Mumbai office on Tuesday to get his statement recorded.Soon after receiving the summon, the Shiv Sena leader took to Twitter to allege that he was being victimised on the instructions of the Centre.
"I just came to know that the ED has summoned me. Good! There are big political developments in Maharashtra. We, Balasaheb's Shiv Sainiks are fighting a big battle. This is a conspiracy to stop me. Even if you behead me, I won't take the Guwahati route.
Arrest me," Raut tweeted.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.