Patra Chawl case: ED summons Sanjay Raut's wife Varsha, know why she is under agency's scanner

The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday summoned Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut’s wife Varsha Raut in the money laundering case related to the Patra Chawl land redevelopment project. The agency issued summons after transactions made in her account in connection with the money laundering probe came to light. 

The agency's summons to Varsha come on a day when a special court in Mumbai extended Sanjay Raut's ED custody till August 8. While extending the custody, the court noted that the ED has made "remarkable progress" in the investigation.

Raut was taken into custody by the ED after the agency raided the leader's residence earlier this week and seized Rs 11.5 lakh in unaccounted cash. The ED rad came after Raut did not show twice after being summoned in the Patra Chawl land redevelopment project case. 

In January this year, Varsha was questioned by the ED in connection with the Rs 4,300-crore PMC Bank money laundering case. Raut was grilled and her statement recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) by the central probe agency.

Varsha has been named repeatedly by the agency in connection with the Patra Chawl case and some of the properties linked to her have been attached. She, however, has not been questioned so far.

On Monday, the ED had told the court that Raut and Raut's family received "proceeds of crime" worth over Rs 1 crore generated out of alleged irregularities in the housing redevelopment project.

In this case, where MHADA and Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd were supposed to redevelop the Patra Chawl society and rehabilitate its 672 tenants by giving them ‘pucca’ houses, the ED claims that Prvaeen Raut-owned GACPL misled MHADA and sold the floor space index (FSI) to nine private developers, collecting Rs 901.79 crore, without constructing wither the rehab portion for the 672 tenants, or the MHADA portion. 

"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.

Notably, Guru Ashish is a subsidiary of the Housing Development Infrastructure Ltd. (HDIL) which is already under the lens of ED and other probe agencies in connection with Rs 4,300 crore alleged fraud at the Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank.   

According to the ED, Pravin Raut admits to have received Rs 100 crore from HDIL, and “diverted” it to various accounts of “his close associates, family member, his business entities”, including the family of Sanjay Raut.