Necessary for Maha govt to cooperate if ED raids linked to national security: Sanjay Raut

PTI, Feb 15, 2022, 11:58 AM IST

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Monday said if the Enforcement Directorate (ED) searches in Mumbai are linked to national security, then it is necessary for the Maharashtra government to cooperate with the probe agency.

Raut, who is also the Sena’s chief spokesperson, however, wondered whether the central probe agency would also look into the “biggest bank fraud” in Gujarat. The ED on Tuesday conducted multiple searches in Mumbai as part of a money-laundering probe linked to the operations of the underworld, illegal property deals and hawala transactions, official sources said.

The action is based on a recent FIR filed recently by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against 1993 Mumbai blasts mastermind and fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and some independent intelligence inputs received by the former agency, they said, adding that some political links to these shady deals are also under the agency’s radar.

Talking to reporters, Raut said, “If anything is related to national security, then it is necessary (for the state government) to cooperate with the central agencies. It is necessary for the Centre and the state to work (together on this).” National and internal security is a very delicate issue. It is not proper to speak on this probe, the Rajya Sabha member said. “If the ED is conducting a probe with inputs related to security, then it should be welcomed. It is for the country and not any political party,” he added.

According to sources, about 10 locations are being covered by the ED in Maharashtra’s capital city and the action is being conducted under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The ED’s action is based on an FIR filed recently by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and some intelligence inputs received by the former agency, they said. Notably, the CBI has booked ABG Shipyard Ltd and its former chairman and managing director Rishi Kamlesh Agarwal along with others for allegedly cheating a consortium of banks led by State Bank of India of over Rs 22,842 crore.

Reacting to it, Raut said, “We also want to see what the ED is doing in the country’s biggest bank fraud. Who were the people who tried to suppress the fraud for the last two years…who did not even allow the FIR to be filed. How did the conspirators escape from the country?” Raut is scheduled to hold a press conference later in the day. On Monday, Raut said his party should not be threatened with the use of Central agencies and claimed that ”three and a half” leaders of the BJP will be behind bars in the next few days.

He also claimed that former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh, arrested by the ED in a money laundering case in November last year, will be out of jail soon.