Why other accused were not arrested in Patra Chawl case, HC asks ED

A single-judge Bench of Justice N.R. Borkar was hearing a petition filed by the central agency seeking the cancellation of bail granted to Mr. Raut by a Sessions court on November 9, 2022

The Bombay High Court on Saturday questioned the Enforcement Directorate (ED) why it has never arrested other accused in the 2018 Patra Chawl redevelopment case in which Uddhav Thackeray camp’s leader Sanjay Raut is also an accused.

A single-judge Bench of Justice N.R. Borkar was hearing a petition filed by the central agency seeking the cancellation of bail granted to Mr. Raut by a Sessions court on November 9, 2022.

Additional Solicitor-General Anil Singh appearing for the ED argued that the bail order is misconceived and an incorrect test as relevant material is ignored and irrelevant consideration is taken on record. He said that the judge who granted bail has exceeded his jurisdiction and rendered a finding against predicate offence. There are certain observations which were not required and no one had even argued that. Those are uncalled for and not required.

The Bench asked Mr. Singh whether all the four accused – Rakesh and Sarang Wadhawan, promoters of Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited, Pravin Raut and Mr. Raut – in the case are on bail. The ASG replied, the first two accused are in custody in some other case, but they are not arrested in this case.

The court questioned why the others were not arrested.

Mr. Singh said that they are in judicial custody.

Then, the court pointed out they are in judicial custody, not in police custody. “If you want to take their statements… they are the main accused, are there allegations of money laundering against them?”