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Patra Chawl scam: Mumbai court to pronounce order on Raut's bail plea on 9 Nov

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut at the Enforcement Directorate office after being summoned for questioning in an alleged money laundering case linked to the redevelopment of Patra Chawl (HT PHOTO)

Special Judge M G Deshpande, who is tasked with hearing cases involving the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), stated that it would also issue an order on the bail plea submitted by co-accused Pravin Raut on 9 November.

Sanjay Raut, a member of the Rajya Sabha, was detained by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in July of this year for his alleged involvement in financial irregularities related to the redevelopment of the Patra Chawl (row tenement) in the suburban Goregaon area.

He is currently being held by the court and is being held at the Arthur Road Jail in central Mumbai.

In the case, Raut had requested bail last month, which the ED opposed.

What is Patra Chawl Scam?

The alleged financial irregularities in the redevelopment of the Patra Chawl and the associated financial transactions involving Sanjay Raut, his wife and associates are the subject of the ED investigation.

In Goregaon, Siddharth Nagar, also known as the Patra Chawl, is 47 acres in size and houses 672 tenant families.

Guru Ashish Construction Private Limited (GACPL) received a redevelopment contract for the Chawl from the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) in 2008.

The GACPL was supposed to construct 672 apartments for tenants and provide some apartments to MHADA as well. The remaining land could be sold to private developers at no cost.

However, as the company did not redevelop the Patra Chawl and instead sold land parcels and the Floor Space Index (FSI) to other builders for 1,034 crore, tenants did not receive a single apartment in the last 14 years.

How is Sanjay Raut and his wife linked to the Patra Chawl scam?

The Patra Chawl scam allegedly includes a subsidiary of Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited (HDIL), called Guru Ashish Construction (GAC).

A Times Now report stated that HDIL had borrowed Rs. 6,700 crore from the PMC Cooperative Bank. However, a huge sum of money accounting for 2,700 crore was laundered which ultimately led to the collapse of the bank.

Together with the Patra Chawl society and the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority, the GAC had reached an agreement. The contract required the construction of flats for MHADA as well as the service of nearly 672 tenants. The developer planned to sell the remaining area.

However, for 901.79 crore, the GAC sold the space to nine developers. In addition, GAC launched a single project, Meadows, and booked approximately 138 crore from flat buyers.

The total proceeds of crime amount to 1039.79 crore when the two are added together, as reported by Times Now.

Pravin Raut, the previous director of GAC, received 100 crore. In February, ED had detained Raut. After that, Raut gave this money to his close associates, including Varsha Raut, Sanjay Raut's wife.

Madhuri Pravin Raut, Pravin Raut's wife, transferred 83 lakh to Varsha Raut's account in 2010 for an unsecured loan. Varsha Raut, on the other hand, used this money to purchase a Dadar apartment.

When the ED started looking into the case, Varsha Raut allegedly transferred a sum of 55 lakh to Madhuri Raut's account. Eight plots bearing the names of Varsha and Swapna Patkar, the wife of Sujit Patkar, a close aide to Sanjay Raut, had been discovered by the investigating authority at multiple locations.

The ED attached these properties in April of this year.

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