ED summons Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut in money-laundering case

Sanjay Raut. File Pic

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday summoned Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut for questioning in a money-laundering probe linked to the re-development of a Mumbai 'chawl'.

The Rajya Sabha MP has been asked to depose before the federal agency at its office in south Mumbai on June 28 and record his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), an official privy to the development told ANI.

Reacting to the ED summons, Raut dubbed it as a "conspiracy" and said even if he is killed, he will not resort to the Guwahati route taken by rebel MLAs from Maharashtra.

"I just got to know that the ED has sent me a notice. Major developments are taking place in Maharashtra. We all are Shiv Sainiks of (Sena founder) Balasaheb. This is a conspiracy. Even if I am beheaded, I will not take the Guwahati route. Arrest me! Jai Hind!," Raut said in a tweet in Marathi and tagged BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis.

The development comes as the Shiv Sena party battles rebellion from a group of its MLAs, putting a question mark on the future of Maharashtra's Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.

The ED in April provisionally attached assets worth more than Rs 11.15 crore of Raut's wife Varsha Raut and two of his associates as part of this investigation.