The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on August 17 carried out searches at multiple locations in Mumbai in connection with the Patra Chawl case in which Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut was arrested earlier this month.
After being questioned for nine hours, Mr. Raut was arrested on August 1 by the central agency over allegations of money laundering and irregularities pertaining to the redevelopment of the Patra Chawl in Mumbai's Goregaon. It is alleged by ED that the developers, one of them a close associate of Mr. Raut, fraudulently made ₹1,039.79 crore from this scheme and Mr. Raut also benefited from the scam.
On August 8, Mr. Raut was sent to judicial custody till August 22 by the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court. He is currently lodged at the Arthur Road Jail. The ED has previously attached assets belonging to Mr. Raut and also questioned his wife Varsha Raut in the case.
The case dates back to March 2018 when a First Information Report was registered under provisions of PMLA against M/s. Guru Ashish Construction as well as Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited (HDIL) promoters Rakesh and Sarang Wadhwan, on the basis of complaint filed by an executive engineer of Maharashtra Housing and Area Development (MHADA).
According to the ED, Guru Ashish Construction was entrusted with the development of Patra chawl for rehabilitation of 672 tenants on 47 acres of land. During the relevant time, the Wadhawan brothers and Pravin Raut were the directors of Guru Ashish Construction.
As per the agreement, the developer was to provide flats to the tenants and develop flats for MHADA and thereafter the remaining area was to be sold by the developer. ED contends the directors of Guru Ashish Construction misled MHADA and managed to sell the floor space index to nine developers and collected approximately ₹901.79 crore without constructing the rehab portion for 672 displaced tenants and the MHADA portion.
