ED quizzes Sanjay Raut's wife for more than 9 hrs in Patra chawl case

Jailed Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut's wife Varsha Raut left the Enforcement Directorate's office on Saturday night after recording her statement in connection with the alleged Patra Chawl redevelopment scam for more than nine hours.

"I have answered all the questions which ED officials asked," she told reporter while leaving.

ED officials have not called her again for now, she said.

She will not leave the Shiv Sena and will continue to support Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray come what may, Varsha Raut said.

She appeared before the central agency on Saturday morning in connection with a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the redevelopment of Patra chawl, an old row tenement in suburban Goregaon.

The central agency had issued summons to Varsha Raut earlier this week.

Accordingly, she reached the ED office located at Ballard Estate in south Mumbai at 10.40 am.

She was expected to be confronted with her husband Sanjay, who is currently in the ED custody, and some other accused involved in the case, sources had said.

Police personnel had been deployed in large number outside the ED office.

Sanjay Raut, a Rajya Sabha member, was arrested by the ED in the case on August 1. A local court on Thursday sent him in further custody till August 8.

The ED had earlier told the court that Sanjay Raut and his family received "proceeds of crime" worth over Rs 1 crore generated out of alleged irregularities in the housing redevelopment project.

In April, the ED had provisionally attached assets worth over Rs 11.15 crore of Varsha Raut and two associates of Sanjay Raut as part of its probe.