On Sunday (July 31) morning, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted searches at the residence of Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut over his alleged involvement in the Patra Chawl land scam case.
The development comes days after the Sena leader skipped two summons of the central agency, citing the ongoing Parliamentary session. Sanjay Raut was directed to depose before the ED’s Mumbai office but he instead sought time till August 7.
The case pertains to the irregularities in the re-development of Patra Chawl near Dharavi and alleged financial transactions involving the wife and 2 associates of Raut.
Following the Enforcement Directorate’s action, Raut took to Twitter to allege political vendetta. “I have nothing to do with any scam. I am saying this by taking the oath of Shiv Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray..Balasaheb taught us to fight.. I will continue to fight for Shiv Sena,” he tweeted in Marathi.
“False action..False evidence…I will not leave Shiv Sena…Even if I die, I will not surrender. Jai Maharashtra,” he said in another tweet. Raut was only called in for questioning and there really wasn’t any question about ‘surrendering’ yet.
It must be mentioned that the Enforcement Directorate has provisionally attached ₹11.15 crore worth of properties of Varsha Raut, wife of Sanjay Raut, and his 2 associates, namely, Pravin M Raut and Swapna Patkar.
Sanjay Raut was interrogated for 10 hours by the central agency on July 1 this year. He was asked to appear before ED on July 20 but he gave it a miss. A new summon was issued on July 27 but the Sena leader missed it too. This compelled the central agency to land at his residence directly.