Shiv Sena, which is struggling to stay afloat after the recent rebellion led by Eknath Shinde, on Sunday received a major blow after the party spokesman Sanjay Raut was detained by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) following 9.5 hours of questioning and searches at home in connection with a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities involving the re-development of Patra chawl in Mumbai. He was later taken to the ED office in Fort amid heavy police bandobast and the CISF cover.
A large number of Shiv Sena workers, who had gathered at Raut’s Bhandup residence, shouted slogans in his support and against the ED’s action.
Taking to Twitter, Raut said, “Maharashtra and Shiv Sena will continue to fight. False action. False evidence. I will not leave Shiv Sena. Even if I die, I will not surrender, Jai Maharashtra.’’
Raut, who had appeared before ED on July 1 to record his statement, later skipped two summons served on July 20 and 27 citing that the monsoon session of the parliament was underway. He had conveyed that he could appear on August 7.
Raut’s detention came a day after the Maharashtra Governor BS Koshyari faced flak following his Gujarati remarks which put the Shinde-Fadnavis government on the defensive although CM and DCM had distanced from his remarks. Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant alleged that ED’s action was orchestrated by BJP.
"’Why ED is raiding a Marathi when Maharashtra Governor BS Koshyari claims that all the wealth of the state belongs to Gujaratis and Rajasthanis,’" he said adding that ‘’The Governor himself says that if Gujaratis and Rajasthanis leave Maharashtra, we would lose the financial capital. Going by that, who are the wealthy ones? And who (Sanjay Raut) is facing a raid? So, who is behind it? The BJP."
Minutes before ED detained Raut, the Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray while addressing the party workers from Thane condemned the central probe agency’s action.
"’This is a shameless conspiracy, BJP's conspiracy to divide Hindus, to finish Shiv Sena, to reduce the Shiv Sena’s strength Shiv and Marathi people," he claimed.
Thackeray without naming BJP alleged that it wants to break the Shiv Sena and party’s relationship with Thackerays. "However, Shiv Sena cannot be broken, no matter how much effort they make. There is a need to expose the conspiracy," said Thackeray.
What is the Patra Chawl scam case?
In April, the ED provisionally attached assets worth over Rs 11.15 crore of Raut's 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).
The attached properties 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, the ED said in a statement.
According to the ED, Sujit Patkar is a close associate of Sanjay Raut. It is understood that the agency wants to question Sanjay Raut to know about his "business and other links" with Pravin Raut and Patkar and also about the property deals involving his wife.
After arresting Pravin Raut in February, the ED had said he appears to be "acting as a front" or in collusion with some influential person(s).
The agency had said during the probe it was revealed he made payments to certain "politically exposed persons".
Pravin Raut arrest:
Pravin Raut was arrested by the ED in a probe linked to a Rs 1,034 crore alleged land scam related to the re-development of the Patra 'chawl' in Mumbai's Goregaon area.
He is in judicial custody at present. Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd was involved in re-development of the Patra 'chawl' which had 672 tenants in tenements on 47 acres belonging to the Maharashtra Housing Area Development Authority (MHADA), the ED had said earlier.
Guru Ashish is a subsidiary company of the Housing Development Infrastructure Ltd. (HDIL). HDIL is under investigation by the ED and few other agencies in connection with the about Rs 4,300 crore alleged fraud at the Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank.
ED said Guru Ashish had entered into a "tripartite agreement' with the tenants and MHADA to re-develop the 'chawl'. According to the agreement, the ED said, the developer had to provide flats to 672 tenants and develop flats for MHADA.
Thereafter, the remaining area was to be sold by the developer. "The directors of Guru Ashish Constructions mislead MHADA and managed to sell the FSI (floor space index) to nine developers and collected about Rs 901.79 crore without constructing the rehab portion for 672 displaced tenants and MHADA portion," it said.
This realty company also launched a project called Meadows and took the booking amount of around Rs 138 crore from flat buyers. "The total proceeds of the crime generated by directors of Guru Ashish Constructions Pvt Ltd through illegal activities was about Rs 1,039.79 crore. Part of the proceeds of crime was further transferred to close associates," it alleged.
ED probe:
The ED probe, conducted so far, found that "around Rs 100 crore were transferred from HDIL to the account of Pravin Raut".
This amount was further "diverted" by Pravin Raut to various accounts of his close associates, family members, his business entities etc., it said. "During 2010, part of the proceeds of crime of Rs 83 lakh was received by Varsha Raut (wife of Sanjay Raut) directly/indirectly from Madhuri Pravin Raut, wife of Pravin Raut."
"This amount was utilised by Varsha Raut for purchase of flat at Dadar east," the agency alleged. ED investigations found that an amount of Rs 55 lakh was transferred back by Varsha Raut to Madhuri Raut. There are various other transactions too, it said.
A charge sheet was filed by the agency in April against Pravin Raut. The agency had questioned Varsha Raut last year in connection with the PMC Bank case and her purported links with Pravin Raut's wife.
Probe found that Varsha Sanjay Raut and Madhuri Pravin Raut are partners in Avani Construction and Varsha Raut has received Rs 12 lakh from this entity (as overdrawn capital converted to loan) on a contribution of mere Rs 5,625.
