Covid centre scam: ED files chargesheet against Sanjay Raut's bizman aide

The Enforcement Directorate on Friday filed a chargesheet against businessman Sujit Patkar, a close aide of Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Sanjay Raut, in the case pertaining to alleged irregularities in COVID centre scam case.

The chargesheet against the associate of Shiv Sena-UBT MP Sanjay Raut was submitted before the court's registry and it will come up before the special judge for cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act after scrutiny of papers.

Patkar and another accused Kishore Bisure were arrested by the ED on July 19 and they are currently in judicial custody.

ED raids in this case were also conducted at the residences of IAS officer Sanjeev Jaiswal and Suraj Chavan, a core committee member of the Yuva Sena (Uddhav Thackeray faction).

After the ED in July arrested Sujit Patkar and Kishore in connection with the alleged Mumbai COVID centre scam case.

The ED said that Sujit Patkar did not cooperate in the inquiry and when he was asked about the money transaction, he was not answering properly.

Earlier in June, the ED raided 15 locations in Mumbai in connection with the alleged BMC COVID centre scam case and seized cash and documents of properties worth crores, according to ED sources.

The ED source said that Sujit Patkar is the kingpin of the scam. He is one of the four partners of Lifeline Hospital Management Services that was awarded the contract to run a COVID-19 jumbo centre in Worli. The ED said that Rs 22 crore was allegedly laundered via shell companies for which Patkar played an instrumental role.

ED had seized Rs 68.65 lakh in cash during the raid. Documents of 50 immovable properties located at various places in Maharashtra with a market value of more than Rs 150 crore, fixed deposits and investments worth Rs 15 crore and jewelery worth Rs 2.46 crore have also been recovered.

According to the sources, ED had also seized several mobile phones and laptops along with many incriminating documents.

The search revealed that one company was giving body bags for dead COVID-19 patients to another company for Rs 2,000.

That company was giving the same body bags to the Central Procurement Department for Rs 6,800 and this contract was signed by the then BMC mayor, said the sources in the ED.