Mumbai: Sanjay Raut, who was arrested on Sunday night in a money-laundering case related to a slum redevelopment land scam, has been sent to Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody till August 4.
The ED had sought eight-day custody of the Shiv Sena MP, stating that he had been tampering with evidence and influenced a number of key witnesses in the money-laundering case.
ED prosecutor Hiten Venegaokar submitted to the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court on Monday that Praveen Raut, Sanjay Raut’s front man, earned Rs 112 crore of which Rs 1.06 crore has been traced so far to the ‘Saamana’ editor and his family.
The court observed that money trail to his wife can be traced through bank statements, hence such a long custody is not needed.
Defence lawyer Ashok Mundargi argued that his client has been arrested because of political vendetta, and that all allegations are speculative, so minimum custody be granted in the case.
Sanjay Raut was taken into custody after midnight yesterday under the PMLA as he was not cooperating in the investigation, officials said.
He was questioned for six hours following a nine-hour search at his residence, during which Rs 11.5 lakh in cash was seized.
