Former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray denied permission to meet jailed Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut

Shiv Sena chief and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray was on Wednesday denied permission to meet jailed party MP Sanjay Raut at Mumbai’s Arthur Road prison. Thackeray’s close aide Raut has been lodged at the famous prison in connection with the Rs 1,034 crore Patra Chawl land scam case.

Arthur Road Jail Authority denied permission to Thackery who had requested to meet Raut in the jailer’s room. The authority said that the Shiv Sena chief will need the court’s permission to meet Raut. The meeting cannot happen in the jailer’s room at all but will need to be in accordance with norms for ordinary prisoners, it added. 

“They will have to meet in the same way as ordinary prisoners meet on that side of the lattice and for that too the permission of the court is required,” the Arthur Road Jail Authority said. The Jail had not received any written application, an official was quoted as saying. A party leader had asked for a 15 minute meeting for Thackeray with Raut on a phone call to jail administration. 

"If you want to meet, then you will have to meet like other people meet all the prisoners and for that, you have the permission of the court,” the Jail Superintendent was quoted as saying. 

Raut’s custody was extended till September 19 on Monday by a Special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court. He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on August 1. The agency is probing alleged financial irregularities in the redevelopment of the Patra Chawl in suburban Goregaon.

READ | Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut’s judicial custody extended by 14 days; know all about Patra Chawl case

(With inputs from ANI)