[BREAKING] Mumbai court extends ED custody of Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut till August 8 in money laundering case

A Mumbai court on Thursday extended the remand of Shiv Sena Member of Parliament (MP) Sanjay Raut to Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody till August 8 in a money laundering case..A Special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Court passed the order."Certainly facts of investigation demonstrate three stages (placement, integration, laundering) and they require further probe, by summoning witnesses and confronting accused. However I am of the opinion that the same can be done till August 8. Wherein ED can look into all aspects," Judge MG Deshpande ordered.The Court also observed that considering some more amounts had been revealed by the ED alongwith bank statements pointing out further trail, there is remarkable progress in investigation..Raut was arrested by the central agency on July 31 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 ₹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.The special court had passed an order on August 1 granting Raut's custody to ED till today..Special Public Prosecutor Hiten Venegaonkar, appearing for the ED, sought extension of remand till August 10 reasoning that major trails had been found from the documents. However, these trails need to be investigated further since Raut had been evasive during interrogation. Venegaonkar argued that further investigation demonstrates that in purchase of properties at Alibaug had substantial cash transactions with the land owners. The investigation has led to further proceeds of crime utilised by Raut to the tune of ₹1.17 crores in respect of Alibaug properties. This is in addition to the earlier proceeds of crime of ₹1.06 crores. "The documents are spread across different days and we have arranged investigation meets for the next three days. But I am seeking for two more days till August 10 to conduct all investigation," the ED counsel said..On the other hand, Raut's counsel Senior Advocate Manoj Mohite emphasised that hardly any investigation had been conducted with Raut in custody. He referred to the earlier remand order to point out that the confirmation on cash payments had all been recorded before. "The same allegations made earlier have been made again," the senior counsel insisted. It was his contention that all of this was politically motivated and there was no requirement for further custodial interrogation particularly since all transactions had been disclosed in his affidavit submitted before the Election Commission..[Read our live coverage of the hearing below]