Patra Chawl case: Sanjay Raut sent to ED custody till August 4

A special court in Mumbai sent Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut to ED custody till August 4 in connection with the money laundering case linked to the related to the redevelopment of a chawl. The agency had demanded 

Raut was arrested on Sunday midnight after the ED conducted searches at his residence and claims to have recovered Rs 11.5 lakh in unaccounted cash.  

Before being produced in the court, Raut was taken to a government hospital for check-up. Raut, who spent the night in ED's south Mumbai office after his arrest, was taken to the hospital after 12.30 pm. He was seen waving to media personnel gathered outside the agency's office.

Sanjay Raut’s lawyer Advocate Ashok Mundargi told the special court in Mumbai that Raut’s arrest is politically motivated. “He is a patient with a heart-related ailment. He had also undergone surgery. Papers related to this have been presented before the court,” he said.

During the remand period, Raut will be quizzed between 10 am and 10 pm over the money laundering case, officials said. He will be able to meet and speak with his lawyers from 8.30 am to 9.30 am.

An agency team had on Sunday reached his residence in Mumbai's Bhandup area, where they conducted a search, questioned Raut, and by evening, summoned him for questioning at the agency's local office. The team also seized Rs 11.5 lakh in cash during the search, the officials said.

Before entering the ED office, Raut told reporters that the federal agency's action was aimed at trying to weaken the Shiv Sena and Maharashtra and that a "false" case was prepared against him.

The ED probe pertains to alleged financial irregularities in the redevelopment of Patra 'chawl' and related financial property transactions involving his wife and alleged associates.

In April, the ED provisionally attached assets worth over Rs 11.15 crore belonging to his 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).

These assets 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, a "close associate" of Sanjay Raut, the ED had said.

The agency is understood to have questioned the Sena leader about his "business and other links" with Pravin Raut and Patkar and also about the property deals involving his wife.