A Special Prevention of Money Laundering Act Court extended the judicial custody of Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut by 14 days till October 3 here on Monday.Raut was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on August 1 in connection with the alleged Patra Chawl redevelopment scam case, and has been in custody since.
The ED had recorded the Sena MP's statement and later raided his home on July 31, detained and then arrested him early on August 1 in the Patra Chawl, Goregaon case.The issue pertains to the stalled redevelopment project of the Patra Chawl for 672 tenants which was taken up by Guru Ashish Constructions Pvt. Ltd. in which Sanjay Raut's close associate Pravin Raut was one of the Directors.
The ED has claimed that Pravin Raut benefitted to the tune of Rs 112 crore by illegal sale of the FSI from the project and he had allegedly passed on a certain portion of the proceeds to Sanjay Raut and his wife.
Last Wednesday, Raut had applied for bail before the Special Court contending that he was arrested and being victimised by the change of power (in Maharashtra) to crush the Opposition.In his bail plea, he pointed how the ED had shown the Rs 112 crore as proceeds of crime in the Patra Chawl cse and again in the Punjab & Maharashtra Cooperative Bank (PMC) case where Pravin Raut is one of the accused.
According to Raut, the ED has claimed that the Rs 112 crore was tainted money earned from the PMC Bank fraud, and in the Patra Chawl matter it was from the illegal sale of FSI.He argued that the ED cannot be allowed to show the same amount in two different cases and take action against different persons for it.
Furthermore, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) had conducted a forensic audit which concluded that Pravin Raut had not received any money from the Patra Chawl project fraud, said Sanjay Raut.Accordingly, if the amount received by Raut was not tainted money, then no offence can be made out as the ED case was based on the EOW's report, and sought immediate bail.
In its supplementary charge sheet filed in the case last Thursday, the ED has accused Sanjay Raut of playing a 'major role' through Pravin Raut, whose role has been brought in comprehensive details by the investigations.The ED has also alleged that Sanjay Raut received Rs. 1.06 crore from Pravin Raut.