Mumbai: A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court on Tuesday adjourned the hearing of a bail application of Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut till October 10.

Raut was arrested for his alleged involvement in the Patra Chawl land scam case.

Judge M G Deshpande will hear the case that day, reports news agency UNI.

The Shiv Sena leader, now in Arthur Road Jail, contended that he is no longer required for interrogation and so should be released on bail. He has denied any wrongdoing.

The prosecution contends that Raut does not deserve bail.

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What is the Patra Chal scam?

In the Goregaon suburb of Mumbai, more than 500 families lived in the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) on 47 acres of land by making tin-pattled chawls (kholis).

In 2007, a plan was made to construct a flat on this plot and give it to the families already living there and transfer the rest of the flat to MHADA and the company that developed it.

The work of building the flat on the plot was given to Guru Ashish Construction Company. As per the agreement with this company, a total of 3,000 flats were to be built on the plot. Of these, 672 flats were to be given to the families already living in the chawls.

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The construction company had no right to sell the plot. It is alleged that the land was sold in violation of the agreement to nine different builders for Rs 1,034 crore and not a single flat was built. The directors of the company transferred some of the money received from the sale of the plot to their close ones.

Meanwhile, Rs 55 lakh was transferred from the account of Madhuri Raut, wife of Praveen Raut, a director of Guru Ashish Construction Company, to the account of Varsha Raut, wife of Sanjay Raut.

This came to light during the PMC Bank scam in Maharashtra in 2020. Since then, ED has been interrogating Sanjay Raut and his wife Varsha apart from Praveen Raut and Madhuri Raut. In April, the agency attached properties worth around Rs 11.15 crore belonging to Varsha and two of his associates.

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