A special court on Friday remanded businessman Pravin Raut in judicial custody till Feb 24, after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) no longer sought his extended custody for investigation from the court. Raut had been arrested on Feb 2 in a money laundering case concerning redevelopment of Goregaon’s Patra Chawl.
His custody had been extended last Wednesday for further probe. Advocate Ajay Bhise appeared for the businessman and made pleas for medicines and eyeglasses to be permitted in prison, which the court allowed.
Raut, arrested by the ED on February 2 under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), was produced before the court today.
Notably, the agency had also questioned Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut’s wife Varsha Raut last year in connection with the PMC Bank case and her purported links with Pravin Raut’s wife.
Pravin Raut, a former director of a company called Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd, was arrested by the ED in a money laundering probe linked to a Rs 1,034 crore land ‘scam’ related to the re-development of a ‘chawl’ in Mumbai.
The case against him pertains to alleged irregularities in the sale of FSI (floor space index) of a plot by a firm, linked to him, that is a subsidiary company of the Housing Development Infrastructure Ltd.
The HDIL is under investigation by the ED and few other agencies in connection with an alleged fraud of about Rs 4,300 crore at the Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank.
The ED in its remand…
