Sanjay Raut, while speaking to reporters over the Enforcement Directorate (ED) summons to his wife, Varsha Raut, Shiv Sena MP and chief spokesperson, on Monday, likened the development to dirty politics.
"It is all politics, those who want to indulge in it can continue to do so," the Shiv Sena spokesperson said.
When asked about the notice, Raut said he hasn't received the summons till now. "I have been searching for ED's notice since yesterday. I have also sent a person to BJP's office to check if the notice is stuck there," Raut said, while mocking BJP over the ED notice. Raut, however, refused to answer further questions levelled at him by the reporters, and dismissed them by saying he will speak during his press conference at 2 pm.
On Sunday night, Raut, in a tweet, cited two lines of a famous song, “Aa dekhen zara kisme kitna hai dum. Jamke rakhna kadam mere saathiya (Come, let's see who has more courage. Put your foot forward, firmly, my companion).”
This statement came after the ED summoned Varsha Raut for questioning in the PMC Bank money laundering case on December 29. She has been asked to appear before the federal agency in Mumbai. This is the third summons issued to her after she skipped the earlier two on health grounds. The summons for questioning has been issued to her under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The ED had filed a PMLA case to probe the alleged loan fraud in the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank in October last year against the Housing Development Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL). The case was filed against its promoters Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan and his son Sarang Wadhawan, its former chairman Waryam Singh and ex-managing director Joy Thomas.
The agency took cognisance of a Mumbai Police Economic Offences Wing FIR against them for allegedly causing "wrongful loss, prima facie to the tune of Rs 4,355 crore to PMC Bank, and corresponding gains to themselves".
The Shiv Sena, which is part of Maharashtra's ruling alliance Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) along with the NCP and the Congress, had earlier alleged that central probe agencies have been targeting them unfairly.
Former BJP leader Eknath Khadse, who recently joined Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), has also been summoned by the ED for questioning on December 30 in Mumbai in connection with a money laundering case linked to a land deal in Pune's Bhosri area.
