What is Patra Chawl land case and how is Sanjay Raut involved in the Patra Chawl land scam?

MUMBAI: In spite of being summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the past, Shiv Sena leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut had skipped attending the probe. He attended the ED office once, but later on again skipped attending the probe agency’s office.

He was taken into custody on Sunday evening. (Read More Here)

The ED first raided Sanjay Raut’s residence at Bhandup in suburban Mumbai at around 7 am on Sunday morning and the search continued for several hours. At around 5 pm, Raut was taken to the ED office and was placed under arrest, after the technical and arrest formalities and paperwork were completed.

Raut has claimed the ED raids are a pressure tactic by the Centre to force him to leave the Shiv Sena, but he will not budge and prefer to get arrested. ALSO READ: Rs 11.50 lakh cash seized from Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut’s residence in Mumbai

According to the ED, the scam is around Rs 1,000 crore involving the redevelopment of the Patra Chawl at Siddharth Nagar in Goregaon in suburban Mumbai.

In April, the ED provisionally attached assets worth over Rs 11.15 crore in the name of Raut’s wife Varsha Raut and two of his associates as part of the investigation.

The attached properties include land held by Pravin M Raut, a close aide of Sanjay Raut and a former director of Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd (GACPL), at Palghar, Saphale (town in Palghar) and Padgha (in Thane district).

The attached properties also include a flat at Dadar in Mumbai in the name of Varsha Raut and eight plots at Kihim beach in Alibaug jointly held by Varsha Raut and Swapna Patkar, wife of Sujit Patkar, the ED claimed 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.

After arresting Pravin Raut in February, the ED said he appears to be “acting as a front” or in collusion with some influential person(s).

The agency said during the probe it was revealed Raut made payments to certain “politically exposed persons” and Sanjay Raut’s name also cropped up in the case.

At the heart of the alleged scam is the company Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd (GACPL), a sister concern or subsidiary of HDIL – which is also facing another loan fraud case by the CBI. GACPL directors include Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan, Sarang Wadhawan and Praveen Wadhawan.

The HDIL is a real estate company that had taken a loan of Rs 6,700 crore from the PMC Cooperative Bank which ultimately led to the collapse of the bank – Rs 2700 crore was laundered by the HDIL.

A tripartite agreement was signed between Patra Chawl society, the MHADA (Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority) and Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd for redevelopment of the plot.

As per the agreement, the developer in this case GACPL was to provide flats to 672 tenants and develop flats for MHADA, and thereafter the remaining area was to be sold by the developer.

However, GACPL mislead MHADA and sold FSI (Floor Space Index) to 9 developers for Rs 901.79 crores and did not construct any flats for the 672 displaced tenants.

Over and above this, GACPL also launched a project Meadows, and took booking amount of around Rs 138 crore from flat buyers.

Adding the two scams, the total amount involved is Rs 1039.79 crores.

From accounts of HDIL based on the ED’s investigations, around Rs 100 crores was transferred to Pravin Raut, a former director of GACPL. Pravin Raut was arrested by ED in February.

Pravin Raut then distributed the Rs 100 crores to his close associates, family members, and others.

In 2010, Rs 83 lakh – was received by Sanjay Raut’s wife Varsha Raut from Madhuri Pravin Raut, wife of Pravin Raut. This was claimed to be an unsecured loan given by Madhuri Raut to Varsha Raut. Varsha Raut used this Rs 83 lakh to buy a flat in Dadar.

Later, when the ED started probing the case, Rs 55 lakh was transferred by Varsha Raut to Madhuri Raut’s bank account.

Apart from this, 8 plots were purchased at Kihim Beach, Alibaugh in the name of Varsha and Swapna Patkar, wife of Sujit Patkar. Sujit is a close associate of Sanjay Raut. The cash payments were made to owners.

In April, properties of Varsha Raut including the Dadar flat and the 8 plots at Kihim Beach, and other properties of Pravin Raut totaling Rs 11.8 crores were attached by the ED.

A charge sheet was filed by the ED in April against Pravin Raut. The agency had questioned Varsha Raut last year in connection with the PMC Bank case and her purported links with Pravin Raut’s wife.

The probe found that Varsha Sanjay Raut and Madhuri Pravin Raut are partners in Avani Construction and Varsha Raut received Rs 12 lakh from this entity (as overdrawn capital converted to loan) on a contribution of mere Rs 5,625.

The ED is investigating the various facets of these cases. More details are likely to tumble out in the coming days.