Mumbai, Oct 26 (IANS) The Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut, in a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday, demanded an immediate high-level investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Maharashtra Police and called for the invocation of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) following explosive revelations made by Maratha reservation activist Manoj Jarange Patil about the Rs 500 crore payout.
Raut said the Maratha reservation activist Manoj Jarange Patil had alleged on October 20 that Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had taken Rs 500 crore from the BJP’s core team leaders in Maharashtra. The funds were reportedly meant to be handed over to Jarange Patil via Dr Shrikant Shinde (MP and son of Eknath Shinde) to silence his agitation prior to the 2024 state Assembly elections. However, Raut highlighted that the money never reached Jarange Patil, raising serious questions about where the Rs 500 crore vanished.
An audio clip released by Manoj Jarange Patil, which Raut described as clear and undeniable proof.
Drawing parallels to previous high-profile financial investigations in the state, Raut noted that the ED moved swiftly with great alacrity in March 2021 when former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh made allegations regarding a Rs 100 crore collection target against then-Home Minister Anil Deshmukh — despite a lack of initial proof.
Raut argued that the current allegations backed by Jarange Patil’s audio evidence are significantly more severe, involving a much larger sum of Rs 500 crore and clear indications of a classic money laundering scheme.
In his two-page letter, Raut has urged the Union Home Minister to direct both the Maharashtra Police and the ED to thoroughly probe the source of the Rs 500 crore fund and track its trail, uncover how senior BJP members, Dy CM Eknath Shinde, and Dr Shrikant Shinde are allegedly connected to this massive financial scam and arrest those involved and bring the complete truth to light before the public.
“The Rs 500 crore matter in Maharashtra must have surely reached you by now. Until now, the BJP has been buying MPs, MLAs, political parties and elections. Now it has begun buying agitations as well. The BJP handed over money to Shrikant Shinde so that Rs 500 crore could be given to Manoj Jarange Patil. Where did this money come from? And did it actually reach Jarange or not? This is a matter under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Kindly entrust the investigation to the Enforcement Directorate (ED),” said Raut in his post on X.
–IANS
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