While the ED has only named Pravin Raut, the Wadhawans and Guru Ashish Construction as the accused, it has said that its investigation is ongoing and sought permission to file a supplementary chargesheet. Earlier this week, the ED attached had assets of Varsha, Swapna and Pravin Raut in connection with the case. (File) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has claimed that businessman Pravin Raut, arrested in a case related to alleged irregularities in a chawl redevelopment project in Goregaon, received Rs 95 crore in his bank account from real estate company HDIL between 2008-2010 “without any valid reason” and the same was transferred to acquire assets and diverted in the accounts of his business entities, family and others.
Pravin was arrested in February and a chargesheet was filed against him as well as HDIL promoters – father and son Rakesh and Sarang Wadhawan – last week.
Guru Ashish Construction Private Limited, a company where the three were directors, is also named as an accused. On Friday, a special court took cognizance of the chargesheet and issued summons to the accused.
The ED chargesheet mentioned that searches were conducted during the probe, resulting in the recovery of documents, including those related to the purchase of plots in Alibag, registered in the name of Varsha Raut, wife of Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, and wife of Swapna Patkar, wife of Sujit Patkar, the MP’s close associate.
The chargesheet also refers to Avani Infrastructure, a partnership firm, where Varsha and Madhuri, the wife of Pravin Raut, are partners with others. The ED stated that a capital investment of Rs 5,625 was made by Varsha in the firm and her profit share was Rs 14 lakh. It does not state Avani Infrastructure’s link with the Goregaon project.
While the ED has only named Pravin Raut, the Wadhawans and Guru Ashish Construction as the accused, it has said that its investigation is ongoing and sought permission to file a supplementary chargesheet. Earlier this week, the ED attached had assets of Varsha, Swapna and Pravin Raut in connection with the case.
The case relates to the redevelopment of Patra Chawl in Goregaon (West), which was supposed to rehabilitate the existing 672 tenements on ownership basis on an over 10-acre land. After a dispute with the first developer appointed for the redevelopment, Guru Ashish Constructions was appointed in 2006. A tripartite agreement was entered into between MHADA, which owned the land, the company and the Goregaon Siddharth Nagar Grihnirman Sanstha, established by the residents.
The ED claimed that Pravin introduced Rakesh as an investor to the previous director of Guru Ashish. Subsequently, Pravin, Rakesh and Sarang were named as directors of the company. The three were allegedly involved in selling the floor space index (FSI) of the land to third-party developers and earned Rs 1039.79 crore between 2010-2014 from the sale.
The ED alleged that Pravin had written to MHADA for permission for the sale as it was not permitted as per the agreement. But the sale was made even before communication allegedly was received from MHADA. The agency added the sale proceeds were siphoned by the Wadhawans and Pravin through accounts of HDIL and its group companies. It claimed there were fund transfers in multiple tranches, mostly of Rs 1 crore each to Pravin’s account in 2008-2010. The ED claimed that Pravin told the agency that of the Rs 95 crore received by him, Rs 50 crore was against sale of sweat equity and remaining Rs 45 crore was from a land deal at Palghar.
“Rather this alibi was created by Pravin Raut and Rakesh Wadhawan to create a facade of legitimacy and this amount meant for construction of flats for displaced tenants and homebuyers was illegally transferred. Pravin Raut’s claim of allotment of sweat equity is not reflected in books of accounts of the company and the same has been outrightly denied by the chief financial officer of HDIL,” the chargesheet stated.
It added that bank details show that Rakesh and Sarang were authorised to operate Guru Ashish accounts without any limit while others had a limit of below Rs 15 lakh.
“Investigation revealed that Pravin Raut, Sarang and Rakesh Wadhawan, all directors of Guru Ashish Constructions Private Limited, fraudulently raised money from this project to siphon without any intent to complete the project, thus jeopardising the interest of 672 tenants whose dwellings had already been demolished. Scrutiny of bank accounts between 2009-2014 reveal that sale proceeds of FSI were transferred to HDIL instead of construction of flats in the MHADA portion.”
The agency claimed that Pravin said that he was never consulted for any financial transaction and that his responsibility was restricted to fieldwork.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
