New Delhi: The Mamata Banerjee-led TMC on Sunday (July 31) condemned the Enforcement Directorate (ED) action on Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, calling it “vendetta politics” and an attempt to curb "opposition voices" by the ruling BJP-led Central government. "This is an attempt to stifle opposition voices both inside and outside Parliament. Inside Parliament, you (BJP-led Centre) get opposition MPs suspended and outside, you use central agencies to threaten opposition leaders," TMC MP Santanu Sen was quoted as saying by PTI. "The raid on Sanjay Raut's residence is a reflection of vendetta politics," the TMC leader added.
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut was detained by the ED sleuths after a day-long raid at his bungalow 'Maitri' in Mumbai in an alleged money-laundering case in the Patra Chawl land scam. Raut said he won't bow down and quit the party, shortly before being taken to the south Mumbai office of the ED. “They (ED) are going to arrest me. I am going to be arrested,” the Shiv Sena leader told reporters.
Sunil Raut, brother of the Shiv Sena MP, said that the ED officials did not seize any document related to the Patra Chawl case during the search. “At around 7 am, 20-22 officers arrived at Sanjay Raut's residence with search warrants, but they did not find any document related to Patra Chawl case. Even if he gets arrested he'll not bow down. No documents were seized, no questioning was done,” he was cited by ANI.
ED action against Raut comes in the wake of another recent high-profile case involving former West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee in which crores of rupees have been seized from residences linked to his aide Arpita Mukherjee. The now-suspended TMC leader, who has denied any wrongdoing and asserted that the "money does not belong to him”, was arrested by ED earlier this month pertaining to the alleged money laundering in School Service Commission (SSC) scam case.
(With agency inputs)
