As ED Custody Ends, Sanjay Raut Sent to Judicial Custody Till 22 Aug

Sanjay Raut was arrested over alleged financial irregularities in the redevelopment of the Patra Chawl.

Shiv Sena leader arrested the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case at midnight on Monday, 1 August.

(Photo: PTI)

A special Mumbai court on Monday, 8 August, sent Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut to judicial custody till 22 August in the Patra Chawl money laundering case.

The court last Thursday had extended Raut's Enforcement Directorate custody till 8 August, while noting the agency had made “remarkable progress” in the probe into the money laundering case involving the Shiv Sena leader.

The ED had then sought his further custody for eight days, saying it has unearthed a new trail of money.

The court said that Raut will get access to all his medicines in judicial custody.

The Sena leader's legal team also decided to not move a bail plea on Monday.

Raut, a Rajya Sabha member, was found to be beneficiary of Rs 1.17 crore of proceeds of crime in addition of Rs 1.06 crore that had come to light earlier, it claimed.

The Shiv Sena leader was arrested on 1 August in connection with alleged financial irregularities in the redevelopment of the Patra Chawl (row tenement) in suburban Goregaon.

The documents seized during the probe showed the purchase of properties at Alibaug in neighbouring Raigad district by Raut involved substantial cash transactions, the ED had said.

As much as Rs 1.08 crore was found in the bank account of Sanjay Raut's wife Varsha Raut, the probe agency had claimed.

The ED on Saturday, 6 August, questioned Varsha Raut for more than nine hours in connection with the case and recorded her statement.

Sanjay Raut, 60, is a close aide of Shiv Sena president and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

He has denied any wrongdoing and called the ED case against him as "false".