The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday issued fresh summons to Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut asking him to appear before the central agency on July 1 in relation to a money laundering case, PTI reported, citing officials.
On Monday, the Enforcement Directorate had issued a notice to Raut and asked him to appear on Tuesday. Lawyers of the Shiv Sena leader met the Enforcement Directorate officials on Tuesday and sought more time, citing official commitments.
Raut’s lawyers had asked for 14 days’ time, but the central agency gave him relief only till the end of this month, PTI reported.
The Enforcement Directorate is investigating a money-laundering case pertaining to alleged fraud worth Rs 1,034 crore referred to as the Patra Chawl scam. The case pertains to alleged fraudulent financial transactions related to the redevelopment of the chawl – a building consisting of several tenements – in Mumbai.
The agency has accused Raut, his wife and construction company HDIL promoter Rakesh Wadhwan of fraudulently raising money for the project to siphon off the amount with no intent to complete the tenement.
The summons to Raut came amid a political crisis within the Shiv Sena after minister Eknath Shinde went to Surat with a group of rebel MLAs last week. He is now camping with them at a hotel in Guwahati.
The Shiv Sena has been alleging that Shinde’s revolt is a result of pressure from the Enforcement Directorate, Central Bureau of Investigation and other central agencies.
On Monday, Raut had described the Enforcement Directorate summons as a conspiracy to stop him.
“Even if you behead me, I won’t take the Guwahati route,” he said referring to the rebel MLAs who are in the Assam capital. “Arrest me.”
Meanwhile, the Saamana editor on Tuesday posted on Twitter a quote by Imam Ali, a cousin of Prophet Muhammad, that read: “Illiteracy is a kind of death, and uneducated people are like the walking dead”.
The tweet appeared to be a response to criticism of his remarks describing the rebel MLAs camping in Guwahati as “living corpses”.
“When they [rebel MLAs] step out of Assam, they will not be alive at heart,” Raut had said. “They know what can happen in the fire which has been lit here now. The dead bodies of all these 40 MLAs will come to Mumbai, we will directly send them to the mortuary for postmortem.”
In response to the statement, rebel Shiv Sena MLA Deepak Kesarkar had accused Raut of inciting party workers.
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