Oppn calls Raut’s arrest political vendetta as court sends him to ED custody till Aug 4

The arrest of Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) further intensified a row between the opposition and the government amid increasing accusation of “politics of political vendetta” levelled against the Narendra Modi dispensation.

Raut, a close aide of former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, was raided and later arrested by the ED before being sent to the central agency’s custody on Sunday for four days in connection with alleged financial irregularities in the redevelopment of a ‘chawl’ in Mumbai and related financial property transactions involving his wife and alleged associates.

The ED produced Raut before the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court judge MG Deshpande and sought his remand for eight days, but the latter did not agree and granted custody for half the duration.

Political Vendetta, calls opposition

The ED action triggered prompt reaction from almost all the opposition political parties with main opposition Congress leading the charge attacking the probe agency and the BJP dispensation for pursuing “politics of intimidation”.

Commenting on the probe agency’s functioning, Shiv Sena leader and Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said in a tweet, “Answer to my parliamentary question regarding ED says it all: 27 times increase in cases filed, however look at the conviction rate: of 0.5 percent. This is a political witch-hunt targeting the opposition, not an attempt to bring transparency in financial dealing.” Chaturvedi has also submitted a suspension of business notice in the Upper House on the ‘misuse’ of investigative agencies such as ED, CBI, and the Income Tax (IT).

Meanwhile, Uddhav Thackeray on Monday went to Raut’s residence in Mumbai, along with party MP Arvind Sawant, MLA Ravindra Waikar and Sena leader Milind Narvekar. After the meeting, he held a press conference slamming Raut’s arrest, calling it vendetta politics. “Those who don’t surrender are being framed into one case or other,” he reportedly said.

“As Gadkari said, politics is becoming disgusting… We have to wipe out whoever speaks against us – a vendetta politics with such a mindset is going on,” the Sena supremo said, reported the Hindustan Times.

Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said the Congress party is concerned about the misuse of central agencies to selectively target the opposition leaders. Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury extended his support to Sanjay Raut and called him a “man of conviction and courage”.

Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal said in a tweet, “ED’s powers and reach of investigation, endorsed by a clearly flawed Supreme Court judgement, will be misused to topple elected governments and destroy our federal structure. (sic)”

Trinamool Congress (TMC) spokesperson Saket Gokhale said in a tweet, “I met @rautsanjay61 3 days ago. He said he had told ED he will appear for questioning after Parliament on 7 August and suspects he will still be arrested. BJP’s vendetta is predictably brazen. Targeting the Opposition WILL come back and haunt Modi-Shah as well as these pliant officials.”

Accusation of ED misuse

Data released by the Ministry of Finance in response to a question in the Lok Sabha has revealed that there has been a sharp increase in the number of cases taken up by the Enforcement Directorate since the BJP government came to power in 2014. The increase has been even sharper since the Modi government returned to power in 2019, reported noted portal The Wire.

It further noted that the response revealed that the number of cases taken up for investigation under FEMA saw a sharp rise from 915 in 2014-15 to 5,313 in 2021-22; and likewise the cases under PMLA rose from 178 in 2014-15 to 1,180 in 2021-22. Overall, the number of cases taken up by the ED have risen by nearly five times, from 1,093 in 2014-15 to 5,493 in 2021-22.

Recently, the Supreme Court in its July 27 order upheld the PMLA and various amendments made to it granting agencies like the ED “untrammelled powers to search, seize and arrest”. However, opinion on it was divided.

Analysing the ruling, New Delhi-based lawyer Sarim Naved in an article published in The Wire said that the PMLA, under which the ED investigates and prosecutes the offence of money laundering, has some major departures from normal criminal procedure.