Sanjay Raut requests bail and claims he was abused by the government to quell resistance

Sanjay Raut, the leader of the Shiv Sena, claimed in his bail application presented to a special court on Wednesday in a money laundering case in which he is being held that he was persecuted in order to brutally squash the opposition the ruling party was facing. Raut, who was detained on August 1 in connection with the Patra Chawl redevelopment project in Goregaon, was arrested. He is currently being held in judicial custody at Arthur Road Prison.

 

He is suspected of receiving Rs 1.06 crores from his co-defendant Pravin Raut, according to the Enforcement Directorate (ED). It claims that the sum is a portion of the Rs. 112 crores in "proceeds of crime" (POC) that Pravin Raut allegedly obtained through the unauthorised sale of Floor Space Index (FSI) in the Goregaon redevelopment project. One of the company's directors, Pravin Raut, was involved in the project that was never completed.

 

In his motion, the Sena leader noted that the same investigating agency had previously utilised the amount of Rs. 112 crores as POC in the Patra Chawl case as well as in another case involving the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-Operative (PMC) Bank, in which Pravin Raut is also charged. In contrast to the PMC Bank case, where it is claimed that the Rs. 112 crores were obtained through bank fraud, the Patra Chawl case asserts that the money was obtained through the sale of FSI for the redevelopment project.

 

He argued that it was improper for the ED to use the same amount as POC in two different cases and pursue action against two different parties. Raut claimed that the ruling party just used him as a "victim of political change of power" and "abuse of criminal apparatus." In addition, he argued that a forensic audit performed by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), on which the ED's allegation is based, revealed that Pravin Raut had not received any money from the diverted funds in the redevelopment project fraud.

 

 

Image Courtesy: Twitter @rautsanjay61