New Delhi: Varsha Raut, wife of arrested Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday in connection with money laundering linked to alleged irregularities in the redevelopment of a ‘chawl’ and related transactions, reported news agency PTI. The probe agency had issued summons to Varsha Raut earlier this week following which she reached the ED office located at Ballard Estate in south Mumbai at 10:40 am amid heavy deployment of police personnel outside the premises as per the report.
She is expected to be confronted with her husband, who is currently in the ED custody, and some other accused involved in the case.
The enforcement agency is conducting an investigation linked to a Rs 1,034-crore alleged land scam related to the redevelopment of the Patra "chawl" in Mumbai's Goregaon area.
Rajya Sabha MP and Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut was arrested in connection with the case by the ED on August 1 and a local court on Thursday sent him to further custody till August 8.
Earlier the probe agency told the court that Raut and his family members received "proceeds of crime" worth over Rs 1 crore generated out of alleged irregularities in the housing redevelopment project.
In April, the ED had provisionally attached assets worth over Rs 11.15 crore of Varsha Raut and two of associates of Sanjay Raut as part of its probe. The attached properties are in the form of land held by Pravin M Raut, Sanjay Raut's aide and a former director of Guru Ashish Construction Private Limited, at Palghar, Saphale (a town in Palghar) and Padgha (in Thane district).
The properties also include a flat in Mumbai suburb Dadar held by Varsha Raut and eight plots at the Kihim beach in Alibaug jointly held by Varsha Raut and Swapna Patkar, the wife of Sujit Patkar, a "close associate" of Sanjay Raut, the ED had said.
Guru Ashish Construction Private Limited was involved in the redevelopment of the chawl, which had 672 tenants living in tenements on 47 acres belonging to the Maharashtra Housing Area Development Authority (MHADA), the ED had said earlier.