What is the money laundering case against Sanjay Raut about

Sanjay Raut has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a money laundering case

New Delhi, Jun 27: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Shiv Sena leader, Sanjay Raut in connection with a money laundering case. He will have to appear before the ED tomorrow.

In April when the ED attached assets worth over Rs 11.5 crore of Raut's wife and two of his associates he had accused the BJP led union government of misusing central agencies against its opponents.

The properties that were attached were in the form of lands by Pravin M Raut former director of the Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd in Palghar and Thane districts, a flat in Mumbai's Dadar area which belonged to Raut's wife Varsha Raut and 8 plots at the Kihim beach in Alibaug jointly held by Varsha and Swapna Pathak, the ED had said in a statement. Swapna is the wife of Sujit Patkar who the ED said is a close associate of Raut.

The agency said that it found that in the Alibaug deal apart from the registered value, cash payments were made to the sellers. The total value of the assets attached was Rs 11,15,56,573.

Pravin Raut was arrested by the ED in February as part of a money laundering probe which is linked to the Rs 1,034 crore alleged land scam. This was related to the re-development of the Patra 'chawl in the Goregaon area, Mumbai. He is currently in judicial custody.

The Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd which is a subsidiary of the Housing Development Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL), was involved in the re-development of this 'chawl' which had 672 tenants in tenements of 47 acres of land that belonged to Maharashtra Housing Area Development Authority (MHADA).

The HDIL is under investigation by the ED and other agencies in connection with the Rs 4,300 crore alleged fraud at the Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank. The ED said that the company entered into a tripartite agreement with the tenant and MHADA to redevelop the 'chawl.' The developer had to provide flats to the 672 tenants and develop flats for MHADA and thereafter the remaining area had to be sold by the developer.

"The directors of Guru Ashish Constructions mislead MHADA and managed to sell the FSI (floor space index) to nine developers and collected about Rs 901.79 crore without constructing the rehab portion for 672 displaced tenants and MHADA portion," The ED said.

The reality company also launched a project called Meadows and took the booking amount of around 138 crore from flat buyers. "The total proceeds of the crime generated by directors of Guru Ashish Constructions Pvt. Ltd l. through illegal activities was about Rs 1,039.79 crore. Part of the proceeds of crime was further transferred to close associates," the ED also said.

The ED has also learnt that the Rs 100 crore was transferred from HDIL to the account of Pravin Raut. This amount was further diverted by him to various accounts of his family members, business entities and close associates.

"During 2010, part of the proceeds of crime of Rs 83 lakh was received by Varsha Raut, wife of Sanjay Raut, directly/indirectly from Madhuri Pravin Raut, wife of Pravin Raut."

"This amount was utilised by Varsha Raut for purchase of flat at Dadar east," the ED said.
After the probe began an amount of Rs 55 lakh was transferred back by Varsha Raut to Madhuri Raut. The probe found that Varsha Raut and Madhuri Raut are partners in the Avani Constructions.

Varsha Raut has received Rs 12 lakh from this entity as overdrawn capital converted to loan on a contribution of a mere Rs 5,625.