ED attaches assets of Sena MP Sanjay Raut's wife, other associates

Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday provisionally attached immovable properties worth Rs 11.15 crores belonging to Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut's wife Varsha Raut and other close associates, under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA). The confiscation is in relation to a case against irregularities in redevelopment of a rehabilitation project in Goregaon taken up by Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd, a company co-directed by Sanjay Raut's close acquaintances.

Around eight land parcels in Alibaug, along with a flat in Mumbai's Dadar suburb have been linked to Varsha Raut and family under the anti-money laundering law, informed the officials. They further said that a federal probe agency froze these land assets after issuing a provisional attachment under the PMLA, linked to a money laundering probe into a land scam worth Rs 1,034 crore related to the re-development of a chawl in Mumbai. The ED had arrested Maharashtra-based businessman Pravin Raut in this case in February and later filed a chargesheet too.

Matter in-depth

Investigation under PMLA revealed that Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd was entrusted the development of Patra Chawl Project for rehabilitation of 672 tenants. During the time of this deal, Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan, Sarang Wadhwan and Pravin Raut - all of whom are closely related to Sanjay Raut - were the Directors of Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd. A tripartite agreement was signed between society Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) and the construction company, under which the developer was to provide flats to the tenants under MHADA. The remaining area was to be sold by the developer thereafter.

The directors of the company, however, allegedly misled MHADA and managed to sell the FSI to nine developers. With this, they collected approximately Rs 901.79 crores without constructing the rehab portion for the displaced tenants in need. The company further launched a residential project under the name 'Meadows', and priced a booking amount of around Rs 138 crores from all the flat buyers. The total proceeds of the illegal dealings thus generated by the co-directors of the company was calculated to be around Rs 1,039 crore approximately. The part of the proceeds of crime was also allegedly transferred further to close associates.

As informed by the ED, the money trail investigation conducted so far has revealed that around Rs 100 crore were transferred from Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited (HDIL) to the account of Pravin Raut, which he further diverted to various accounts of his close associates, family members, and business entities. The ED also claims that a part of the proceeds of crime transacted in 2010 amounting to Rs 55 lakhs was transferred to the account of Varsha Raut, wife of Sanjay Raut from the account of Madhuri Raut, the wife of Pravin Raut.

Sanjay Raut reacts

Reacting to the matter, Sanjay Raut said that he had "seen this coming", and had also been threatened about weakening his spirits. "I am no Vijay Mallya or Mehul Choksy or Adani Ambani. I am a simple man who lives in a small house. What money laundering are they even talking about? I had already intimated Rajya Sabha Chairman about this. They (central govt) had threatened us about an investigation like this and that is what is happening. They just want us to get out of power. But I am not scared. Take whatever property I have, shoot me or put me in jail. I am not scared, I will continue to do what I do," he said.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi leaders in the state have been long criticizing the ED for working under the orders of the opposition-led central government and falsely framing them for political gains. Before this, several MVA leaders and their relatives, including those of Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, have been on the ED's radar playing an active role in stirring Maharashtra's political broth time and again.