Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut completes bail formalities in Mumbai PMLA court – India Today

Bhausaheb Chaudhary, the communications head of the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena at Nashik, stood as surety for Raut. 

Seeing Sanjay Raut and his brother Sunil Raut sitting in the court for over an hour, the judge asked for the process to be expedited.

By Vidya : A special court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on Thursday allowed Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MP Sanjay Raut to furnish a surety, which was the requisite bail condition that he had to complete. Surety is a person who stands guarantee for the accused for the entire duration of the trial.

The person who stood as surety for Raut was Bhausaheb Chaudhary, Sampark Pramukh (communication head) of the Shiv Sena at Nashik.

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When the proceedings started on Thursday, Special Judge RN Rokade wondered if the process in the case was already complete. Advocate Vikrant Sabne, appearing for Raut, replied that it was completed for Sanjay Raut’s co-accused Pravin Raut and was still pending for the MP.

Chaudhary got into the witness box and was asked by Judge Rokade as to why he was standing as surety. Chaudhary replied, “I have known him (Sanjay Raut) for the last 30 years. He is a family friend.” The judge then asked how much the surety was for and Chaudhary replied “Rs 2 lakh.” With this, the court said that the surety was accepted.

However, completing the procedure between the court and the department took more than an hour. Seeing Sanjay Raut and his brother Sunil Raut still sitting in the court, the judge asked for the process to be expedited.

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Raut was arrested on August 1 by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Patra Chawl scam and after thorough investigation, he was sent to judicial custody and was lodged at the Arthur Road prison. After he applied for bail, the ED filed their prosecution complaint, or chargesheet, and the bail plea was argued on the merits of the evidence against the MP.

After a month, Raut was granted bail by the special PMLA court on furnishing cash bail of Rs 2 lakh and was given time to furnish a surety.

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The ED states that there are 672 tenants of MHADA who never got their new homes because of the Patra chawl scam. The first chargesheet was filed by the ED on March 31, 2022, against Sarang and Rakesh Wadhawan, the promoters of DHFL, and Pravin Raut and his company. In September, the agency had filed a supplementary chargesheet against Sanjay Raut with some material against Pravin Raut as well.

The allegations against Pravin Raut are for laundering Rs 112 crore, while Sanjay Raut had allegedly received over Rs 3 crores of this tainted money.

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