On Wednesday, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted raids on the properties belonging to the close aides of Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders Aditya Thackeray and Sanjay Raut. The ED is investigating the properties of Suraj Chavan, a close aide of Uddhav Thackeray’s son Aditya Thackeray, and Sujit Patkar, a close aide of Sanjay Raut. The raids are underway at 10 locations in Mumbai.
According to the reports, however, the names of the persons whose premises are being raided by the ED are yet to be confirmed by the authorities. Businessman Sujit Patkar is being investigated in the money laundering case revolving around fraudulent civic body contracts for managing COVID-19 field hospitals during the pandemic.
This is months after the Pune Police filed an FIR against Patkar, Sanjay Raut’s business partner in Lifeline Hospital Management Services (LHMS), along with several others for fraudulently obtaining a contract of Shivaji Nagar Pune Jumbo Covid Center as alleged by complainant BJP’s Kirit Somaiya.
On April 10, BJP leader Kirit Somaiya filed a complaint of cheating and forgery with the Pune city police against the Lifeline Hospital Management Services (LHMS) and its partner Sujit Patkar alleging irregularities in the allotment of a jumbo Covid centre in 2020.
Somaiya alleged that the LHMS did not have any experience in providing healthcare, but bagged the contract for the jumbo Covid centre in Shivajinagar in 2020 from the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority after submitting forged documents.
Somaiya highlighted Sujit Patkar’s relation and partnership with Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut and had said that the actual contract between the MCGM and Lifeline Hospital Management Services was never signed.
The matter had come to fore after ED raided Sujit Patkar’s properties in 2022 in connection with the land scam worth Rs 1034 crores. The document by ED reflected that Patkar had signed the agreement with MCGM one year after actually getting the contract and receiving Rs 32 crores in his account.