Amidst all the political drama in Maharashtra, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday summoned Shiv Sena leader and spokesperson Sanjay Raut in a money laundering case of 2018.
He has been summoned to be present before the central agency on June 27 in a case relating to the irregularities in the redevelopment of Patra Chawl project at Goregaon.
The Member of Parliament tweeted, “I just came to know that the ED has summoned me. Good ! There are big political developments in Maharashtra. We, Balasaheb’s Shivsainiks are fighting a big battle. This is a conspiracy to stop me. Even if you behead me, I won’t take the Guwahati route. Arrest me ! Jai Hind”
The case dates back to March 2018 when an FIR was registered under the provision of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act against M/s Guru Ashish Construction, Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited’s (HDIL) promoters Rakesh and Sarang Wadhwan on the basis of a complaint filed by an executive engineer of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development (MHADA). The FIR booked them under Sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant, or banker or agent), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 120 B (punishment of criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
According to the ED, M/s Guru Ashish Construction was entrusted with the development of Patra Chawl for rehabilitation of 672 tenants in 47 acres. During the relevant time, the Wadhawan brothers and Pravin Raut were the directors of M/s Guru Ashish Construction.
As per the agreement, the developer was to provide flats to the tenants and develop flats for the MHADA and thereafter the remaining area was to be sold by the developer. The ED contends that the directors of M/s Guru Ashish Constructions misled the MHADA and managed to sell the floor space index to nine developers and collected approximately ₹901.79 crore without constructing the rehabilitation portion for 672 displaced tenants and the MHADA portion.
The company launched one project named Meadows and took the booking amount of around ₹138 crore from flat buyers. The total proceeds generated by the company through the illegal activities was approximately ₹1,039.79 crore.
The investigation conducted so far revealed that around ₹100 crore was transferred from the HDIL to the account of Mr. Pravin Raut. This amount was diverted by him to various accounts of his close associates, family members, his business entities etc. It is also revealed that during 2010, part of the proceeds of crime amounting to ₹83 lakhs was received by Ms. Varsha Raut directly/indirectly from the wife of Mr. Pravin Raut. The amount of ₹55 lakhs was utilised to purchase a flat at Dadar.
On April 5, the ED attached immovable properties of over ₹11 crores belonging to the Sena’s Member of Parliament. The assets include eight plots at Kihim beach at Alibaug jointly held by Ms. Varsha and Swapni, wife of Sujit Patkar, friend of the Raut family. One flat at Dadar has also been attached that belongs to Ms. Raut and some property at Palghar owned by close aide Mr. Pravin Raut, also a former director of Guru Ashish Construction Private Limited, currently in jail.
