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After 100 days in jail, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut gets bail

After 100 days in jail, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut gets bail
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Mumbai: Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) 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.

While granting him and co-accused Pravin Raut bail, the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act court judge M G Deshpande questioned why the ED did not arrest the main accused, Rakesh and Sarang Wadhawan of realty firm HDIL. The court also rejected ED lawyer Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh's plea urging it not to give effect to the bail order till Friday. The ED then moved the High Court. But the high court refused to grant an urgent stay, stating that it cannot pass such an order without hearing both the parties, and posted the matter for hearing on Thursday.

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.

Hundreds of Shiv Sena workers gathered outside the Arthur Road jail awaiting Raut's release and burst firecrackers. 'Sainiks' also assembled outside his residence in suburban Bhandup and Uddhav Thackeray's residence 'Matoshree' in Bandra.

At 6.50 pm, 61-year-old Raut stepped out of the prison. Uddhav Thackeray described him as a "fighter who never succumbed to pressure". "Tiger is back," said Sushma Andhare, spokesperson of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction.

"I'm thankful to the court," a visibly emotional Sanjay Raut told the special judge when the bail order was announced. In the detailed order, the court said Raut's arrest was illegal and a "witch-hunt". 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 without naming the politicians in question. As per the charge-sheet, meetings related to the redevelopment of Patra Chawl had been attended by Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) officials, Raut as well as "then Union agriculture minister and chief minister" in 2006-07.

"It was an astonishing admitted fact that the 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," the court further said.

"Basically, there was no reason nor any occasion to arrest both of them (Sanjay Raut and co-accused Pravin Raut)....for the allegations which are basically nothing but a civil dispute," the court said, while also slamming the ED for not taking its cases to logical conclusion. After leaving the court, Raut visited the famous Siddhivinayak temple. The only Sena which is real is the one founded by Balasaheb Thackeray and now being led by Uddhav Thackeray, he said.

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