ED arrests businessman in Mumbai 'chawl' redevelopment money laundering case

The Enforcement Directorate arrested a Maharashtrabased businessman in a money laundering probe linked to a Rs 1034 crore land scam related to the redevelopment of a chawl in MumbaiPravin Raut a former director of a company called Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd was arrested following his questioning at the ED office in Mumbai Premises linked to him were searched by the agency on TuesdayRaut was produced before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act PMLA court in Mumbai that sent him to ED custody for eight days till February 9 the agency said in a statement Pravin Raut was found involved in offence of money laundering and to unearth the money trail and the siphoning of funds running into more than 1000 crore he was arrested it saidThe ED said Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd was involved in the redevelopment of Patra chawl in suburban Mumbais Goregaon area The chawl had 672 tenants in tenements on 47 acres land belonging to the Maharashtra Housing Area Development Authority MHADA Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd is a subsidiary company of the Housing Development Infrastructure Ltd HDILThe HDIL is under investigation by the ED and a few other agencies in connection with the around Rs 4300 crore alleged fraud at the Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative PMC BankThe ED said the company Guru Ashish had entered into a tripartite agreement with the tenants and the MHADA to redevelop the chawl Pravin Raut along with Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan and Sarang Wadhawan directors of Guru Ashish Constructions Pvt Ltd in connivance with others illegally sold FSI floor space index to various builders for Rs 1034 croreThis was done without constructing the rehab flats and flats to be handed over to MHADA which was the prerequisite it alleged Raut being the director of Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd has played an active role in the redevelopment project and in connivance with Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan and Sarang Wadhawan managed to divert the proceeds of crime of more than Rs 1000 crore by harming the interest of 672 tenants and buyers the ED saidIn addition to Rs 1034 crore received from various builders they had also obtained bank loans the agency stated The ED alleged that Raut in 2010 received Rs 95 crore in his bank account in the guise of sale of equity and land deal though the company was not able to complete the project and had not generated any income The Mumbai Police economic offences wing EOW had first filed an FIR to probe these allegations made in the redevelopment of the chawl The ED last year had also attached assets worth Rs 72 crore of Raut in connection with the PMC Bank money laundering case It had then said that Rs 95 crore has been siphoned off through HDIL by one of the accused Pravin Raut in active conspiracy and connivance with various persons The source of the funds was illegally availed loansadvances by HDIL from PMC BankThere was no document or agreement in support of these payments made to Pravin Raut the ED had alleged in a statement It said as per the ledger of HDIL the funds were given to Pravin Raut for acquiring land in Palghar area The agency had also questioned Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Rauts wife Varsha Raut last year in connection with the PMC Bank case and her purported links with Pravin Rauts wife It had said that Pravin Raut paid an amount of Rs 16 crore to his wife Madhuri Pravin Raut from the proceeds of crime Out of the said money Madhuri Raut transferred Rs 55 lakh Rs 50 lakh on December 23 2010 and Rs 5 lakh on March 15 2011 as interest free loan to Varsha Raut who is the wife of Sanjay Raut The amount was further utilised for purchase of flat in Dadar East Mumbai the ED had said Probe found that Varsha Sanjay Raut and Madhuri Pravin Raut are partners in Avani Construction and Varsha Raut has received Rs 12 lakh from this entity as overdrawn capital converted to loan on a contribution of mere Rs 5625The ED had filed a criminal case of money laundering in October 2020 to probe the alleged loan fraud in the PMC Bank and had booked HDIL its promoters Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan his son Sarang Wadhawan its former chairman Waryam Singh and exmanaging director Joy ThomasIt took cognisance of a Mumbai Police economic offences wing FIR against them that charged them for causing wrongful loss prima facie to the tune of Rs 4355 crore to PMC Bank and corresponding gains to themselvesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever