As politicking peaks in Maharashtra following the arrest of Sanjay Raut, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday, 1 August, was granted custody of the Shiv Sena MP till 4 August in the Patra Chawl land scam case.
The Mumbai special court said in its order, "Considering the compass of enquiry and volume of the matter, custodial interrogation is necessary."
The court recorded that as per the prosecution, Raut and his family siphoned Rs 1.06 crore through their associates.
It also told the ED that since Raut is suffering from heart disease, he should be hospitalised if required. The court granted two applications filed by Raut – one for medicines and home-cooked food, and the second for legal consultation.
Raut had been arrested by the ED in the wee hours of Monday.
(Photo: Shiv Sena)
Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray meets
Uddhav Thackeray Meets Raut's Family
Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray visited Raut's residence on Monday and met his family in a bid to extend support.
Raut's brother, Shiv Sena MLA Sunil Raut, pledged support for the arrested leader and indicated that the party workers will stage protests against the arrest on Monday.
"The Shiv Sena and Uddhav ji stand solidly behind us. Our legal fight (over Sanjay Raut's arrest) has begun," the Shiv Sena MLA from Vikhroli told news agency PTI on Monday.
Sanjay Raut's Arrest
An ED team, on Sunday, 31 July, had reached Sanjay Raut's residence in Mumbai's Bhandup area, where they conducted a search, questioned him, and by evening, summoned him for questioning at the ED's zonal office in south Mumbai's Ballard Estate, which went on for over six hours.
Outside the ED's office, Raut had told reporters on Sunday that the "ED will arrest me, but I won't bow down."
He was taken into custody at 12:05 am on Monday under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) as he was not cooperating with the probe, ED officials claimed.
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.
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 central agency's action was aimed at weakening the Shiv Sena, and so, a "false" case was prepared against him.
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.
New FIR for 'Insulting Modesty of a Woman'
In another related development, Mumbai Police on Sunday registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Raut on the charge of insulting the modesty of woman on the complaint lodged by witness, Swapna Patkar, claiming that she was threatened.
The complaint was lodged at Vakola police station by the witness, a police official said on Sunday night.
Patkar had recently approached the police claiming she was given rape and murder threat in a typed paper, which was delivered to her in a newspaper on 15 July, the official added. Further, an audio clip in which a male voice can be heard threatening a woman had gone viral.
The police have invoked Sections 504 (insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 506 (Punishment for criminal intimidation), and 509 (intending to insult the modesty of a woman) of the IPC against Raut.
Meanwhile, Patkar on Sunday registered her statement with the police, the official said, adding that she was provided security as requested by her.
The Patra 'Chawl' Case Against Raut
The case in which Raut has been arrested concerns the crucial Patra Chawl Development project that has been underway in Maharashtra for over a decade.
The ED has alleged a scam of a whopping Rs 1039.79 crore in the project, and part of the mammoth account was traced back to properties owned by Sanjay Raut's wife, Varsha Raut.
In 2007, the Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd was awarded the project of redevelopment of the Patra Chawl. 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," the ED has alleged.
The ED further said in its statement that the construction company acquired an amount of Rs 138 crore from flat buyers under a project named Meadows.
An official statement by the agency alleges that during 2010, part of the proceeds of the alleged money laundering, amount to Rs 83 lakh, was received by Sanjay Raut's wife Varsha.
This amount was utilized by Varsha Raut for the purchase of a flat in Dadar. Further, 8 plots of land at the Kihim beach in Alibaug were also purchased under the names of Varsha Raut and Swapna Patkar, the wife of Sujit Patkar, who is a close associate of Sanjay Raut.
(With inputs from PTI.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)