A grand welcome to Sanjay Raut who came out of Arthur Road Jail in Central Mumbai.
Mumbai:
Hours after he was granted bail by a court in an alleged money laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut was on Wednesday released from jail for “illegally” arresting the politician. He was severely reprimanded. -and-choose attitude”.
He came out of central Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail and was accorded a grand welcome by members of Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray faction, waving saffron dupatta.
Mr Raut’s release was also approved by the Bombay High Court, which refused a stay on bail as requested by the central agency probing financial crimes.
Stating that it cannot pass such an order without hearing both the sides, the High Court listed the matter for hearing on Thursday.
“I haven’t even seen the order. I don’t know on what grounds bail has been granted. I don’t know on what grounds you (ED) have challenged the order. Hearing of parties,” he said. Justice Bharati Dangre said.
A special court earlier in the day granted bail to Mr Raut and co-accused Pravin Raut, while rejecting the ED’s request to stay the order till Friday.
In scathing remarks in the order against the Enforcement Directorate, Judge MG Deshpande called the agency’s actions a “witch-hunt”, and said, “I believe that both the accused were basically illegally arrested. “
“Merely labeling pure civil disputes with ‘money laundering’ or ‘economic offence’ cannot automatically achieve such status and ultimately drag an innocent person into a pitiful position under the guise of arrest… has to do what is right, no matter who is in front of it,” the judge said.
The order said, “It is clear from the material on record and the detailed discussion conducted as to how Praveen Raut has been arrested for a pure civil trial while Sanjay Raut has been arrested without any reason. This fact is clear.” “
The ED had on August 1 arrested Sanjay Raut, Rajya Sabha MP and a vocal critic of the BJP government at the Centre, alleging financial irregularities in connection with the redevelopment of Patra Chawl in suburban Goregaon.
The court said the conduct of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), which filed the case, was “suspicious from the beginning”.
“The attitude of MHADA in registering such an FIR (First Information Report) can neither cast dust in the eyes of the court nor can put an end to the protracted civil litigation,” it said.
The court observed, “It was a surprisingly acknowledged fact that the prime accused Rakesh and Sarang Wadhawan of HDIL, who had not only garnered over Rs 1,000 crore, but had allegedly placed, layered and integrated it, He was never arrested by the ED.”
“At the same time, Sanjay Raut and Praveen Raut were arrested. This clearly shows the disparity and the ED’s pick and choose attitude,” it said.