[BREAKING] Mumbai court remands Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut to ED custody till August 4 in money laundering case

A Mumbai court on Monday remanded Shiv Sena Member of Parliament (MP) Sanjay Raut to Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody till August 4 in a money laundering case..A Special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Court passed the order. Judge MG Deshpande turned down the request by ED for 8-day custody and instead said that custody up till August 4 would siffice."I am of the opinion that such a long custody of 8 days is not warranted. Besides I am of the opinion that accused is remanded to ED custody upto Aug 4 that will suffice investigation," the judge ordered.The Court also noted that Raut is a heart patient and had undergone surgery and, therefore, said that during ED custody, he may be given some rest rather than interrogating him till late night..Raut was arrested by the central agency late on Sunday night in connection with a money laundering case linked to the redevelopment of a chawl project in a northern suburb of Mumbai and related transactions involving his wife and ‘associates’.The ED is investigating alleged violation of PMLA in a case pertaining to the irregularities in the redevelopment of Patra Chawl by Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd a subsidiary of HDIL.The agency had earlier arrested Pravin Raut, a close associate of Sanjay Raut and attached properties belonging to the Shiv Sena leader’s wife Varsha Raut.In April, the ED provisionally attached assets worth over Rs 11.15 crore of Raut’s wife Varsha Raut and two of his associates as part of this investigation.The attached properties comprise land held by Pravin M Raut, Sanjay Raut’s aide and a former director of Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd, at Palghar, Saphale (town in Palghar) and Padgha (in Thane district)..Raut was summoned for questioning in the re-development of a Mumbai ‘chawl’ and related transactions involving his wife and ‘associates’.ED had earlier interrogated Raut for over 10 hours on July 1 before being summoned again on July 20.Raut, who is a member of Rajya Sabha, did not answer the summons citing the ongoing session of Parliament. Thereafter a search and seizure operation was conducted at Raut's Bhandup residence on Sunday.After questioning the members of his household for over nine hours, the investigators took the MP to the agency's office at Ballard Pier, Mumbai later in the afternoon on Sunday.Raut was arrested around midnight. .He was produced before the Special Judge today when Advocate Vikrant Sabne appeared for him..Special Counsel Hiten Venegaonkar, appearing for ED, contended that Pravin Raut received around ₹112 crores from HDIL in 2010."Pravin Raut was examined and his statement was recorded under the Section 50 of the PMLA and the investigation revealed that Pravin Raut received ₹112 crores from the HDIL. He failed to explain the rationale behind having received such huge funds," Venegaonkar submitted.From this investigation it was concluded that Pravin Raut, Sanjay Raut along with HDIL promoters Kapil and Sarang Wadhawan conspired to siphon off monies from this project without completing the project. Among the proceeds, ED traced the amount of ₹1,06,44,375 being transferred to the bank account of Sanjay Raut with his wife Varsha Raut.The second leg of allegations against Raut is regarding the purchase of certain parcels of land at Alibaug. "Investigation further revealed that Sanjay Raut has infused/ utilised considerable amount of cash in the purchase of the land at Alibaug which has been confirmed by some other sellers and the cash component has been sourced from Pravin Raut," the ED counsel said.He further alleged that Pravin was a close confidante of Raut and being the frontman utilised the close proximity for obtaining building approvals; and also utilised the proceeds on domestic and international tours for Raut and his family."The proceeds of crime were utilised there. The requirement under PMLA, generation of proceeds of crime, which has directly benefited Sanjay Raut and his family members. All ingredients under section 3 are made out," Venegaonkar said..He also alleged that Raut threatened witnesses and failed to cooperate with the probe. "He was summoned on 3 occasions. He appeared on one occasion. He failed to appear on two occasion. He failed to dodge the statutory summons. He tampered with crucial witnesses. These details I will handover, because we are still investigating," it was contended, placing reliance on the Supreme Court's recent judgment on PMLA provisionsThe counsel, therefore, sought 8 days custody of Raut. .Senior Counsel Ashok Mundargi, appearing for Raut, contended that all allegations in the remand application are vague and the case stems from political vendetta. He also pointed out that the case is from 2018 and it was being rake up due to change in political atmosphere.Regarding non-cooperation with probe, Mundargi said that Raut had communicated that he was involved in elections and was also attending parliament's monsoon session in New Delhi."This man was neck-deep in all elections. He intimated, he was not running away from the investigation. He was in Delhi, attending parliament. The need to arrest has to be taken with a punch of salt," Mundargi said..Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.