Patra Chawl case: Arrest of Sanjay Raut illegal, says PMLA court

The special PMLA court on Wednesday granted bail to Sanjay Raut and his close associate Pravin Raut in the Patra Chawl case The court called their arrests illegal and came down heavily on the Enforcement Directorate saying that the agency had followed a pickandchoose strategy while arresting them The court further slammed the investigating agency over its delaying tactics and failure to produce sufficient evidenceRaut was arrested in connection with the Rs 1034crore case earlier in July and was lodged in jail since After securing bail Raut was released from Arthur Road jail on Wednesday eveningldquoSimply labelling pure civil disputes as lsquomoney launderingrsquo or lsquoeconomic offencersquo itself cannot automatically acquire such status and ultimately drag an ancient person in a miserable situation in the guise of arrest under Section 19 and stringent twin conditions of Sections 451i and ii of the PMLA Prevention of Money Laundering Act The court has to do what is right irrespective of who is before itrdquo the court stated in the 122page order Sections 451i and ii of PMLA make it hard for the accused to get bail whereas Section 19 deals with power to arrest people believed to be guilty of an offence punishable under the ActAlso read Im thankful to court says Sanjay Raut after getting bail in money laundering caseSanjay Raut outside Arthur Road jail on Wednesday PicShadab KhanThe court also lashed out on the ED for their tactics to delay the trial ldquoI am constrained to note that not a single trial right from the establishment of this Designated Court the ED has concluded by leading evidence and the Court could not give a single judgment right from the last decade This Court has submitted a detailed report to the Honble Principal Judge regarding such modus operandi availed by ED in conducting trialsrdquo Special judge M G Deshpande notedldquoIt is necessary to take serious note that Pravin Rautrsquos bail application has been pending since 05052022 ie more than six months and even Sanjay Rautrsquos bail application has been pending since 08092022 ie more than three months even if both of them were illegally arrested under Section 19 of the PMLA Yet the ED wants to keep those applications pending for an uncertain period This is very seriousrdquoIt further pointed at the agencyrsquos failure to produce enough evidence ldquoEven the cases wherein this court has framed charges could not record evidence more than onetwo pages In this way the extraordinary pace with which ED arrests accused becomes not even a snail speed in conducting trials It appears that ED knows only Section 19 and 45 of the PMLA but forgets that there is a provision for trial of an offence under PMLA as per Section 44rdquoThe court also raised questions about ED not arresting the main beneficiary and MHADA officials suspected to be involved in the case By not arresting these people ED was conveying a message to the then Union agriculture minister and the then CM that they were next in line the court saidldquoOnly bald and bare words of Chandan Kelekar witness in the case alleging two meetings with the then Union Agriculture Minister and the then Maharashtra CM caused the arrest of Sanjay Raut and formed the basis for Supplementary Complaint Highlevel MHADA and government officials had participated in the said meetings as per Mr Chandan Kelekar Yet none of them is made an accused or even arrested in spite of suspicious conduct of MHADA right from 2007 till date But only Sanjay Raut was arrestedrdquoThe court further said ldquoSkipping all officials of MHADA and government ie T Chandrashekhar etc referred by Mr Chandan Kelekar Wadhawans and Ms Swapna Patkar is nothing but conveying a message to the then Union Agriculture Minister and then then chief minister creating fear psyche in their mind that they are the next in this queue Certainly this is not an objective and true purport of the PMLArdquoldquoFrom the records materials and the detailed discussion it is clear how Pravin Raut is arrested for a pure civil litigation whereas Sanjay Raut for no reason This truth is glaring The court is under legal obligation and duty to find out the truth even at the stage of bailrdquo the court saidThe court also pointed out that even main money launderers Rakesh Wadhawan and Sarang Wadhawan who admitted their misdeeds by making sworn statements in the affidavit before the HC were not arrested This despite the ED arresting them in every other crime they were involved inThe ED moved an application before the PMLA court to put a stay on the order so they can get time to approach High Court but the court refused1034Estimated amount in R crore in the scam