While the entire media was focusing on the court hearing and Raut’s arrival, I was watching his daughter who stole my heart. When Raut came out of the court his daughter Purvashi was right there escorting her father towards the car. She was holding a bag and files and stood by him like a pillar of strength. Raut waved at those people, who were waiting for him outside the premises. He smiled and sat in his vehicle. He was trying to tell his people that everything is fine or maybe it was a message to the media that all is well. One cannot ignore the fact that the tiredness and discomfort was very much visible on his face. Whereas his daughter looked very firm and composed while being with her dad all these whiles.
When ED summoned Sanjay Raut’s wife Varsha Raut, his daughter Purvashi was seen accompanying mother along with her uncle Sunil Raut. Varsha Raut, a school teacher, simple woman and mother of two daughters, got caught in the controversy because the transactions were done in her bank account. Purvashi sat in the ED office until her mother came out. ED questioned Varsha Raut for more than nine hours in connection with the case and recorded her statement. Then Purvashi took her mom back home. She is striking a balance between both. Younger one Vidhita was very emotional the day ED took her dad’s custody; Raut’s brother Sunil was seen cheering her. Who says daughters are less than sons?
Surprisingly, none of the leaders from Maha Vikas Aghadi came in support of Sanjay Raut, no one gave media statements or expressed solidarity. Bunch of Shiv Sainiks gather around court and ED office the day his custody gets over and they bid goodbye when he goes back. There is absolute silence from all those leaders who once were vocal for Nawab Mallik and Congress’s Anil Deshmukh. Well! Rahul Gandhi and His sister Priyanka Gandhi expressed their concern for Raut. Uddhav Thackeray has denied any wrongdoing and called the ED case against him Raut “false”. But no other local leader spoke to the media, his brother Sunil Raut played his spokesman. He gave media statements; he was very prompt during all the on-going events.
A special court sent Raut to 14-day judicial custody in a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the redevelopment of a Mumbai ‘chawl’. This came after the ED prosecutor said that the agency no longer needed his custody for the probe. Raut was arrested by the central agency on August 1. Sanjay Raut, is taken to Arthur Road Jail.
His lawyer sought that Raut should be permitted to access home food, medicines and bed while in jail given his health condition. The court has passed an interim order allowing Raut home food and medicines, till a report is received from the jail superintendent and the chief medical officer of the jail on his health. The court said that his plea for a bed cannot be considered as adequate arrangement for a bed made by the jail SP in prison.
The ED prosecutor told the court that while his medical examination, mandatory as per law at least 24 hours before being produced in court, was done yesterday, Raut insisted that he be taken for the test today again before the hearing.
Meanwhile, Raut got caught in another storm; the ED is now looking into the editorial column published with arrested Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut’s byline in the party mouthpiece, Saamana, on Sunday. Sanjay Raut does not have permission from court to write editorials or columns while in custody. However, on Sunday, a column titled ‘Rokthok’ criticising Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari for his recent statements, was published in Saamana under the Sena MP’s name. ED sleuths will be investigating several possible scenarios: if Raut wrote the column by his own hand, if he conveyed the details to someone meeting him while in custody, or if it was written by Saamana staffers in Raut’s name. Raut is allowed to meet his lawyer for one hour every day, as per court orders.
Earlier, three days after Raut was taken in custody, a letter was sent to various Rajya Sabha MPs belonging Opposition parties, in which the Sena leader thanked them for supporting him after his arrest by the ED.
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