Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut Remanded To Judicial Custody Till August 22 In Patra Chawl Scam Case

A Special PMLA Court on Monday remanded Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut to judicial custody in the Patra Chawl Scam case till August 22.Special Judge MG Deshpande passed the order after the ED did not seek his further custody and sought for him to be remanded in judicial custody instead. After noting his health condition, the court directed prison officials to produce the MP before the Arthur Road prison superintendent to acknowledge his heart condition and ensure proper medication.Raut has been allowed home cooked food and required medication while in judicial custody.Case So FarThe ED is investigating alleged violations of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 regarding irregularities in the redevelopment of Patra Chawl by Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd. The company is a subsidiary of Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL).Earlier the ED arrested a close associate of Raut, Pravin Raut in the case. The agency also attached Sanjay Raut's wife - Varsha Raut's properties.Guru Ashish Construction, in a tri-parte agreement with Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) had undertaken to develop 672 flats for tenants of Patra Chawl, develop flats for MHADA, and finally to sell the remaining area to private developers.However, according to the ED, Pravin Raut, one of the directors of Guru Ashish Constructions misled MHADA and sold the floor space index (FSI) to nine private developers, collecting Rs 901.79 crore. It failed to construct either the rehab portion for the 672 displaced tenants or the MHADA's portion.Further ED claims that Pravin Raut received nearly Rs 100 crore from HDIL and "diverted" it to various close associates, including the family of Sanjay Raut.On July 1, Raut was questioned for over 10 hours but didn't respond to summons thereafter citing the ongoing Parliament session."Among the Proceeds of crime (PoC) of around Rs. 112 crore (to Pravin Raut), ED has so far traced PoC amounting to Rs 1,06,44,375/- being transferred to the bank account of Shri Sanjay Raut/ his wife Smt. Varsha Raut," the ED said in their earlier remand.Special Public Prosecutor Hiten Venegavkar representing the ED had called Raut, their "front man". He said that the money was used by Raut to purchase properties in Dadar area in Mumbai and Kihim in Alibaug.The ED traced further Romney trails in subsequent remands.

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut Remanded To Judicial Custody Till August 22 In Patra Chawl Scam Case

Sharmeen Hakim

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