Land Scam Case: ED Says Sanjay Raut's Wife Owns Rs 11 Crore Worth Assents

In the Patra chawl land scam case involving Sanjay Raut's wife Varsha Raut, the Enforcement Directorate attached assets attached to her. As per the agency, Varsha Raut owns assets worth Rs 11.15 crore along with other two people.

The assets were filed by the ED as provision under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the Patra chawl project in Mumbai. The project was taken on by a subsidiary named Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL).

The two other individuals with Varsha Raut in the case are businessman Pravin Raut and Sujit Patkar's wife Swapna Patkar. Sujit Patwar is a close associate of former member of Rajya Sabha and member of Shiv Sena party Sanjay Raut.

Patra Chawl Land Scam Case Against Varsha Raut

The Enforcement Directorate in its statement said, "The attached assets are in form of lands held by Pravin M Raut, former director of Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd, Mumbai at Palghar, a flat at Dadar of Varsha Raut and plots at Kihim beach at Alibaug jointly held by Varsha Raut wife of Shri Sanjay Raut and Swapna Patkar, wife of Shri Sujit Patkar." The agency had arrested Pravin Raut on February 4 under the PMLA. It was allegedly found that Pravin Raut got Rs 100 crore from the company overseeing the Patra chawl project. ED alleged that Pravin diverted the money to several accounts of his close associates, business entities and family members." This also included Sanjay Raut's family members' accounts.

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The agency found irregularities in the redevelopment of the said chawl area and in tripartite agreement signed between Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority ( MHADA) and Guru Ashish Construction Pvt LT. The latter is a subsidiary of HDIL. Guru Ashish was to provide flats to 672 tenants in the chawl and build flats for MHADA and then sell the rest of them to private developers, as per agreement. As per the agency, Guru Ashish along with Pravin Raut allegedly sold the floor space index to nine developers and received Rs 901.79 crores by misleading MHADA. Guru Ashish allegedly did not provide rehabilitation to 672 displaced tenants.

ED statement added, "Further, Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd has also launched one project namely Meadows and took the booking of amount (of) around Rs 138 crore from flat buyers. The total proceeds of the crime generated by directors of Guru Ashish Constructions Pvt Ltd through the illegal activities was approximately Rs 1,039.79 crore." The agency alleged that in 201o, a part of the illegal money, Rs 83 lakh, was transferred to Sanjay Raut's wife Varsha Raut from Pravin Raut's wife Madhuri Raut. Varsha Raut then allegedly purchased a flat in Dadar. After ED started investigating the case, Rs 55 lakh was allegedly transferred by Varsha Raut to Madhuri Raut.