Maha govt should cooperate if ED raids are related to national security: Raut

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Monday said if the Enforcement Directorate ED searches in Mumbai are linked to national security then it is necessary for the Maharashtra government to cooperate with the probe agencyRaut who is also the Senas chief spokesperson however wondered whether the central probe agency would also look into the biggest bank fraud in GujaratThe ED on Tuesday conducted multiple searches in Mumbai as part of a money laundering probe linked to the operations of the underworld illegal property deals and hawala transactions official sources saidThe action is based on a recent FIR filed recently by the National Investigation Agency NIA against 1993 Mumbai blasts mastermind and fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and some independent intelligence inputs received by the former agency they said adding that some political links to these shady deals are also under the agencys radarTalking to reporters Raut said ldquoIf anything is related to national security then it is necessary for the state government to cooperate with the central agencies It is necessary for the Centre and the state to work together on thisNational and internal security is a very delicate issue It is not proper to speak on this probe the Rajya Sabha member saidldquoIf the ED is conducting a probe with inputs related to security then it should be welcomed It is for the country and not any political partyrdquo he addedAccording to sources about 10 locations are being covered by the ED in Maharashtras capital city and the action is being conducted under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act PMLAThe EDs action is based on an FIR filed recently by the National Investigation Agency NIA and some intelligence inputs received by the former agency they saidNotably the CBI has booked ABG Shipyard Ltd and its former chairman and managing director Rishi Kamlesh Agarwal along with others for allegedly cheating a consortium of banks led by State Bank of India of over Rs 22842 croreReacting to it Raut said ldquoWe also want to see what the ED is doing in the countrys biggest bank fraud Who were the people who tried to suppress the fraud for the last two years who did not even allow the FIR to be filed How did the conspirators escape from the countryRaut is scheduled to hold a press conference later in the dayOn Monday Raut said his party should not be threatened with the use of Central agencies and claimed that three and a half leaders of the BJP will be behind bars in the next few daysHe also claimed that former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh arrested by the ED in a money laundering case in November last year will be out of jail soonThis 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