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Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut got bail after 102 days from PMLA court in Mumbai in money laundering case. The ED arrested him on July 31 after 9 hours of interrogation. Earlier on June 28 also, Raut was questioned by the ED. During the search of Sanjay Raut’s house, the ED found cash worth Rs 11.50 lakh. Raut or his family members could not reveal the source of this amount. Sanjay is accused of 1,039 crore Patra Chawl land scam.
What is Patra Chawl scam
Siddharth Nagar is located in Goregaon, North Mumbai, it is popularly known as Patra Chawl. There are 672 houses in 47 acres here. In 2008, the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) started the redevelopment project and awarded the contract to rehabilitate 672 tenants and redevelop the area to Guru Ashish Construction Private Limited (GACPL).
GACPL was to give flats to 672 tenants of Patra Chawl, 3,000 flats for MHADA and sell the rest to private developers. However, the ED claims that Sanjay Raut’s close aide Praveen Raut and other directors of Guru Ashish Construction misled MHADA. Along with this, he earned Rs 901.79 crore by selling Floor Space Index i.e. FSI to 9 different private developers, but they neither gave flats to 672 tenants nor did any flats for MHADA.
After this GACPL started a project called Meadows and took booking amount of about Rs 138 crore from flat buyers. The ED alleges that Guru Ashish Construction made Rs 1,039.79 crore from these illegal activities.
What did the ED find in the investigation
ED has claimed that Praveen Raut received Rs 100 crore from real estate company HDIL. Praveen gave this money to his close associates, family members and Sanjay Raut’s family. The ED has alleged that in 2010, Rs 83 lakh was sent to the account of Sanjay Raut’s wife Varsha Raut. He bought a flat in Dadar with this money. The ED has claimed that apart from this, at least 8 plots were bought in the name of Varsha Raut and Swapna Patkar on Kihim Beach in Alibaug, Maharashtra.
Swapna is the wife of Sujit Patkar, a close associate of Sanjay Raut. Cash money was also paid in this land deal. ED said that on the identification of these properties, an order has been issued to attach all these properties of Praveen Raut and his associates.