Amid the political turmoil in Maharashtra, the Enforcement Directorate has summoned senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Tuesday in a money laundering case. The Rajya Sabha MP, however, said he will not appear before the agency on Tuesday as he wants to stay with the party in the time of crisis.
The Shiv Sena is staring at a vertical split after cabinet minister Eknath Shinde raised the banner of revolt and moved to a hotel in Assam's Guwahati with a sizable number of MLAs. The rebbellion has also pushed the Maha Vikas Aghadi government to the brink of collapse.
"I knew ED is going to summon me, I won't kneel down. No matter what the rebel MLAs do, I will not go to Guwahati. I am Balasaheb's Shiv Sainik and I will stay with my party. I will not appear before the ED tomorrow. I will seek time from ED, but will definitely go after some time," Raut said.
Raut had earlier termed the ED summons a conspiracy to stop him from fighting the crisis his party is going through.
“This is a conspiracy to stop me. Even if you behead me, I won't take the Guwahati route,” he had said.
The money laundering case is linked to the re-development of a Mumbai 'chawl' and other related financial transactions involving his wife and friends.
In April, the ED provisionally attached assets worth more than Rs 11.15 crore of Raut's wife Varsha Raut and two of his associates as part of this investigation.
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 Pvt Ltd, at Palghar, Saphale (town in Palghar) and Padgha (in Thane district). The attached properties also include a flat in Mumbai's suburb Dadar held by Varsha Raut and eight plots at Kihim beach in Alibaug jointly held by Varsha Raut and Swapna Patkar, wife of Sujit Patkar, the ED said in a statement.
According to the ED, Sujit Patkar is a close associate of Sanjay Raut.
It is understood that the agency wants to question Sanjay Raut to know about his "business and other" links with Pravin Raut and Patkar and also about the property deals involving his wife.
In the Alibaug land deal, apart from the registered value, "cash" payments were made to the sellers, the agency had alleged.
With PTI inputs
