AMN / Mumbai
A special court here today remanded Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut to the custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) till August 4 in a money laundering case.
The ED produced Raut before the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court judge MG Deshpande and sought his remand for eight days.
Senior advocate Ashok Mundargi, appearing for Raut, submitted that the allegations are vague and raised due to political vendetta.
Sanjay Raut was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) at midnight in Mumbai, after hours of searches at his residence. He was questioned for over six hours by the ED officials in an alleged Patra Chawl land scam case.
Raut’s brother Sunil Raut while confirming about the Sena leader’s arrest lashed out at the BJP and alleged that since they are afraid of him they got him arrested. Sunil Raut however said that the ED has not given them any document regarding his arrest.
He also alleged that Sanjay Raut has been framed. Sanjay Raut, who is also the chief spokesperson of the Shiv Sena will be produced in court today at 11.30am.
Earlier in the day, the ED officials had searched Mr. Raut’s home in suburban Bhandup for the most part of Sunday after he refused to appear for questioning despite being summoned twice by the central agency.
The ED wanted to question Raut in connection with the redevelopment of a chawl in Mumbai and related transactions involving his wife and close associates.