Enforcement Directorate arrests Sanjay Raut in money laundering case

Officials claimed that Sanjay Raut was detained at 12:05 am on Monday under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) as he was not cooperating with the investigation. The ED probe pertains to alleged financial irregularities in the redevelopment of Patra ‘chawl’ and financial property transactions relating to his wife and alleged associates.

Sanjay Raut He will be produced before a special PMLA court in Mumbai on Monday where the Enforcement Directorate will seek his custody. Earlier, an ED team reached his residence on Sunday and conducted extensive raids and also seized 11.5 lakh in cash, ed officials said.

Before entering the ED office, Raut told reporters that the ED’s action was aimed at weakening the Shiv Sena and Maharashtra and a “false” case was prepared against them.

In April, ED temporarily attached assets of higher value Under this investigation, Rs 11.15 crore of Raut’s wife Varsha Raut and two of his associates.

The attached properties are in the form of land in Palghar, Safal (city in Palghar) and Padgha (in Thane district) with Praveen M Raut, Sanjay Raut’s associate and former director of Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd.

The attached properties include a flat of Varsha Raut in Dadar suburb of Mumbai and eight plots at Kihim Beach in Alibaug, which are jointly owned by Varsha Raut and Sujit Patkar’s wife Swapna Patkar, the ED said in a statement.

According to the ED, Sujit Patkar is a close aide of Sanjay Raut. After arresting Pravin Raut in February, the ED had said that he was “acting as a front” or colluding with some influential person(s).

The agency had said that during the investigation it has come to light that it had made payments to certain “politically exposed persons”.

*With inputs from agencies

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