Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray)’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut walked out of Mumbai’s Arthur Road jail on Wednesday evening, hours after a special court granted him bail in a money laundering case.
“Tiger is back,” the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction said on Wednesday after a special court here granted bail to party MP Sanjay Raut in a money laundering case.
Talking to reporters, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) spokesperson Sushma Andhare said till the time the party has leaders like Raut, it has nothing to fear.
#WATCH | Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray faction) leader Sanjay Raut released from Arthur Road jail after Mumbai’s PMLA court granted him bail in Patra Chawl land scam case earlier today. pic.twitter.com/9LnLnmV3aI
— ANI (@ANI) November 9, 2022
He was arrested on August 1 by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the money laundering case related to a housing project in suburban Goregaon.
At around 5 pm, Raut’s legal team dropped his bail order into the Arthur Road jail box and at about 6.50 pm, the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader stepped out of the prison, where he had spent more than three months.
A large number of supporters of the Rajya Sabha member, who had assembled outside the jail, burst into celebration as soon as he walked out of the jail and raised slogans hailing him. Firecrackers were set off near the jail in central Mumbai by Raut’s supporters.
Earlier, The arrest of Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut in a money laundering case by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was ”illegal” and a “witch-hunt”, a special court in Mumbai said on Wednesday while granting him bail in the Patra Chawl redevelopment matter.
It also questioned why the main accused in the case, Rakesh and Sarang Wadhawan of real estate firm HDIL, were never arrested by the ED.
Further, the reason the agency did not arrest concerned officials of MHADA and other government departments was “nothing but conveying a message to then Union agriculture minister and then (Maharashtra) chief minister, creating a fear psyche in their mind that they are the next in this queue,” the judge said.
It was an ”astonishing admitted fact that main accused Rakesh and Sarang Wadhawan of HDIL, who had not only generated over Rs 1,000 crore, but also allegedly placed, layered and integrated the same, were never arrested by the ED,” it said.
The special judge for cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, M G Deshpande, granted bail to Sanjay Raut, arrested on August 1, and his aide Praveen Raut, arrested in February 2022.
