Sanjay Raut’s wife skips ED summons, seeks more time

Mumbai: In an anti-climax of sorts, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut’s wife Varsha Raut on Tuesday skipped the summons issued to her by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for appearance and questioning and sought more time.

“We have sought four more days. We have full respect for the central agencies,” Raut, who is Executive Editor of the Saamana Group of publications, told media persons.

A party official said that the Raut family reportedly asked the ED for time till January 5, even as Raut denied that his wife had received any notice.

“I have not seen the notice. It is not with me,” said Raut, though the opposition BJP leaders have claimed that the summons pertains to a Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank case and concerns transactions with the HDIL.

Contending that the ED notice is part of “political vendetta” of the BJP, Raut made it clear that he was “a lawmaker, a Rajya Sabha member” and would always respect the laws despite some people holding it hostage and managing to evade action.

Meanwhile, BJP state Vice-President Kirit Somaiya slammed Raut for the second day on the ED notice issue.

“This is the third of the EC summons. Sanjay Raut’s family is not appearing before the ED. Why are they running away?” he asked.He said that the ED is probing transactions of crores of rupees between the PMC Bank, HDIL, the Sanjay Raut family, and Pravin Raut’s family, and asked “what are the special relations between the two Raut families?”