Around 5 pm, Mr Raut’s legal team dropped his bail order at the Arthur Road jail box and around 6.50 pm, the leaders of the Uddhav Thackeray faction walked out of jail.
Around 5 pm, Mr Raut’s legal team dropped his bail order at the Arthur Road jail box and around 6.50 pm, the leaders of the Uddhav Thackeray faction walked out of jail.
Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut walked out of Mumbai’s Arthur Road jail on Wednesday evening, hours after he was granted bail by a special court in a money laundering case.
He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on August 1 in a money laundering case related to a housing project in suburban Goregaon.
Around 5 pm, Mr Raut’s legal team dropped his bail order at the Arthur Road jail box and around 6.50 pm, the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader walked out of the jail where he had spent more than three months.
As soon as he came out of the jail, a large number of supporters of the Rajya Sabha member gathered outside the jail and started shouting slogans. Firecrackers were burst near central Mumbai jail by Mr Raut’s supporters.
Earlier in the day a special court granted bail to Mr. Raut. 2018 Chawl Redevelopment Case relating to irregularities.
He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on 1 August after nine hours of interrogation on 28 June. money laundering charges and irregularities relating to the redevelopment of Patra Chawl in Goregaon, Mumbai. It has been alleged by the ED that the developers, one of them being close associates of Mr. Raut, fraudulently earned ₹1,039.79 crore from the scheme and Mr. Raut also got its benefits. Sent to Mr. Raut on August 8 judicial custody, The ED had earlier attached Mr Raut’s property and questioned his wife Varsha in the matter.
On 4 August, a Special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in its order had recorded, “It is a fact that a money trail of ₹1.17 crore and ₹1.08 crore had not come up before the court. Some more amount has been disclosed by the ED along with the bank statement, I believe there has been legitimate progress in the investigation and some facts should be checked by calling the witnesses and facing the accused.
The ED chargesheet states, “Mr. Raut has played a major role in the crime through his proxy and confidante Pravin Raut. The accused was fully involved in the offense of money laundering through Praveen Raut, who was the director of Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd, which was engaged for the redevelopment of Patra Chawl. ,
“Mr. ED alleged that Raut is accused of using the proceeds of crime to create assets besides spending money on other expenses of Rs 3,27,85,475.
The case dates back to March 2018 when an FIR was registered under the provision of PMLA against Rakesh and Sarang Wadhawan, promoters of M/s Guru Ashish Construction, Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited (HDIL), based on a complaint filed by an executive engineer from Maharashtra. Housing and Area Development (MHADA). According to the ED, M/s Guru Ashish Construction was entrusted with the development of Patra Chawl project for rehabilitating 672 tenants in 47 acres of land. During the relevant time, the Wadhawan brothers and Praveen Raut were the directors of M/s Guru Ashish Construction.
As per the agreement, the developer was to provide the flat to the tenants and develop the flat for MHADA and thereafter the remaining area was to be sold by the developer. The ED, however, alleged that the directors of M/s Guru Ashish Construction misled MHADA and managed to sell the floor space index to nine developers and collected around Rs 901.79 crore without constructing the rehabilitation portion for 672 displaced tenants and the MHADA portion.
(with PTI inputs)