ED attaches Rs 72-cr assets of man whose wife transferred funds to Sena leader's spouse

New Delhi: The ED on Friday said it has attached assets worth Rs 72 crore of a Maharashtra-based man whose wife's alleged transaction with Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut's spouse is under its scanner in the over Rs 4,300 crore PMC Bank money laundering case.

The central probe agency alleged that the man, Pravin Raut, had "siphoned off" Rs 95 crore worth of funds from the scam-hit bank in the garb of loan, out of which he paid Rs 1.6 crore to his wife, Madhuri Raut, who subsequently transferred Rs 55 lakh in two tranches to Varsha Raut, wife of Sanjay Raut, as an "interest-free loan."

The ED recently summoned Varsha Raut for questioning with regard to this transaction and a few other deals leading to a political blame game between Maharashtra and the Centre with various constituents of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) led state government alleging that the Centre was using federal probe agencies to harass them.

Varsha Raut skipped the agency's notice thrice and is now expected to join probe before the ED in Mumbai on January 5.

Sanjay Raut, while holding a press conference in Mumbai early this week, had denied any wrongdoing on the part of his wife and said they were in correspondence with the ED in connection with the case for about one-and-a-half months.

Raut, 59, is a Rajya Sabha MP and also a spokesperson of the Shiv Sena, which is in power in Maharashtra and is a former ally of the BJP.

He said details regarding the Rs 55 lakh loan transaction have already been submitted to the ED during the correspondence.

The ED said it has provisionally attached Rs 72 crore worth of assets of Pravin Raut under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) as it explained in a statement the alleged financial links between him his wife and that of Sanjay Raut's spouse.

"Probe revealed that Rs 95 crore has been siphoned off through HDIL by one of the accused Pravin Raut in active conspiracy and connivance with various persons.