The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut at midnight after questioning for over six hours in the Patra Chawl land scam case. However, Raut claimed he is innocent and is being framed. MP Sanjay Raut said there was a conspiracy going on to weaken Shiv Sena and Maharashtra.
Raut was earlier summoned by the probe agency on July 20, which he skipped and informed through his lawyers that due to the ongoing Parliament session, he could appear only after August 7. He had recorded his statement once on July 1. The ED had attached Raut’s properties in Dadar and Alibag in the case.
Raut, 60, was arrested after over six hours of questioning at the ED’s zonal office in south Mumbai’s Ballard Estate. He has been taken into custody at 12:05 am on Monday under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) as he was not cooperating in the probe.
The Rajya Sabha MP of the Sena, led by former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, will be produced before a special PMLA court in Mumbai later in the day, where the Enforcement Directorate will seek his custody.
Raut on Sunday said will die, but will neither surrender nor quit the Shiv Sena. The Rajya Sabha member said this in tweets, which he posted soon after the central agency started conducting a search at his residence in suburban Bhandup on Sunday morning in connection with a money laundering case.
