New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Sunday detained Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut after conducting a raid at the residence of the leader in Mumbai in connection with a land scam case. Reacting to the development, the Rajya Sabha member said that he was not involved in any scam and was being targeted due to political vendetta.
Earlier, ED summoned the leader in a money laundering case linked to the alleged irregularities in the re-development of a Mumbai ‘chawl’ and related transactions involving his wife and ‘associates’. However, Raut did not appear before ED on July 20 and July 27.
The probe agency attached the asset of Rs 11.15 crore of Sanjay Raut’s wife Varsha Raut and her close ones.
The project was initiated by the Maharashtra Housing and Development Authority (MHADA). Below here, we are going to explain to you Patra Chawl Land Scam in points:
1. The first case, in the alleged scam, was filed by the Maharashtra Housing and Development Authority (MHADA) in 2018 against Rakesh Kumar Vdhavan, Sarang Wadhawan, and Praveen Raut.
2. The project was allocated to Guru Ashish Construction (GAC), a sister company of HDIL. Under the project, the construction company was supposed to develop 672 rent flats for the people living in the crawl. Notably, all three persons are the director of GAC.
3. However, the GAC did not build any flats and illegally sold the land of 47 acres to 9 builders in exchange for Rs 901.79 crore.
4. It is reported that the GAC started a project in the name of Meadows and collected 138 crores from flat buyers. The investigation revealed that the GAC earned 1,039.79 crore and transferred the money to their associate.
5. The ED investigation said the HDIL transferred the amount of Rs 100 crore in the account of Praveen Raut. After this, Raut transferred the amount into different bank accounts of his family members, closed ones, and others.
6. The investigation further revealed that Praveen’s wife Madhuri transferred a total of Rs 83 lakh to the account of Sanjay’s wife Varsha Raut. Varsha reportedly bought a flat with the money. Besides, the investigation revealed that Varsha send Rs 55 lakh to Madhuri’s account after the ED launched the investigation.
7. ED arrested Praveen Raut after conducting a raid on his residence, and his friend Sujeet Patkar.
8. It is reported that Praveen Raut is a friend of Sanjay Raut while Sujeet Patkar is a partner in a wine trading company of Sanjay’s daughter.
9. Moreover, Sanjay Raut’s wife Varsha and Patkar’s wife also purchased land in partnership, which is on the radar of ED.
10. The investigation also revealed that Varsha Raut and Madhuri are partners in Avani Construction. It is alleged that Varsha contributed Rs 5,625 to the company while she received Rs 12 lakh.
