A special court on Wednesday granted bail to Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray) MP Sanjay Raut in a money laundering case and said, “He was arrested for no reason and the arrest was illegal.”
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) moved the Bombay High Court seeking a stay on the execution of the bail order. However, Justice Bharati Dangre said the matter will be heard on November 10.
Special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Judge M.G. Deshpande also granted bail to co-accused Pravin Raut on a bond of ₹2 lakh each. “Simply labelling pure civil disputes with ‘money laundering’ or ‘economic offence’ cannot automatically acquire such status and ultimately drag an innocent person in a miserable situation in the guise of arrest. Court has to do what is right irrespective of who is before it,” the court said.
Mr. Raut was arrested on August 1 by ED on allegations of money laundering and irregularities pertaining to the redevelopment of Patra Chawl in Mumbai’s Goregaon. It was alleged by ED that the developers, one of whom is a close associate of Mr. Raut, fraudulently made ₹1,039.79 crore from this scheme and Mr. Raut also benefited from it. As per the agency, “Mr. Raut has played a major role in the offence through his proxy and confidant Pravin Raut. The case dates to March 2018 when a First Information Report was registered under the provision of PMLA against M/s Guru Ashish Construction, Housing Development, and Infrastructure Limited’s promoters Rakesh and Sarang Wadhawan on basis of a complaint filed by an executive engineer of Maharashtra Housing and Area Development (MHADA).”
The order pointed out, “From the record materials and the discussion made it is clear how Pravin Raut is arrested for a pure civil litigation, whereas, Sanjay Raut for no reason. This truth is glaring.”
The court questioned MHADA’s conduct and observed, “The conduct of MHADA right from the beginning, till date is suspicious. Even ED admitted the same in their complaints, yet ED has not made any staff of MHADA an accused. MHADA’s attitude as such lodging FIR on one fine morning can neither throw dust in the eyes of the court nor can brush off and wash out long civil litigation, which was even acknowledged by the High Court.”
The court went on to say, “Rakesh and Sarang Wadhawan, being the main accused, were not arrested by ED; they have been left scot free. At the same time, Pravin was arrested for civil dispute and Sanjay for no reason. This clearly indicates disparity, and ED’s pick and choose attitude. If the court still accepts ED’s and further rejects the bail pleas, that will amount to putting a premium on such pick and choose strategies of the Agency. Certainly, in that event, any common, innocent and honest people, will loose faith and confidence, which they have reposed in the judicial system as a temple of justice.”
Mr. Raut walked out of Mumbai’s Arthur Road jail on Wednesday evening, hours after the special court granted him bail.
At around 5 p.m., Mr. Raut’s legal team dropped his bail order into the Arthur Road jail box and at about 6.50 p.m., the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader stepped out of the prison, where he had spent more than three months.
A large number of supporters of the Rajya Sabha member, who had assembled outside the jail, burst into celebration as soon as he walked out of the jail and raised slogans hailing him. Firecrackers were set off near the jail in central Mumbai by Mr. Raut’s supporters.
(With PTI inputs)
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