Month: August 2022

The Enforcement Directorate on Monday will produce Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut before a special session court after his arrest here early this morning in connection with a money laundering case linked to irregularities involving the redevelopment of a chawl in Mumbai.

ED officials raided the Shiv Sena leader’s home on Sunday and after detaining and questioning him for several hours arrested him in the early hours today.
Raut will be taken for medical tests and later produced before a Special Court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Raut is a close aide of Shiv Sena President and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

Prior to his arrest, Sanjay Raut’s brother said yesterday: “Sanjay Raut has been arrested. BJP is afraid of him and got him arrested. They haven’t given us any document (regarding his arrest). He has been framed.”

Raut was arrested after an FIR was registered against Sanjay Raut in Mumbai for allegedly threatening Swapna Patkar, the wife of Sujit Patkar, a close aide of the Shiv Sena MP.

The case was registered at the Vakola police station under sections 504,506 and 509 of IPC.

An audio clip of Swapna had gone viral in which Raut was allegedly heard threatening her.

Notably, Swapna Patkar is a witness in the Patra Chawl land case, for which the ED detained Raut on Sunday after hours of raids at his residence.

Meanwhile, security around the ED office and JJ hospital has been increased with over 100 officials deployed to get hold of any law and order situation.

Additional Director (ED) Satyabrata Kumar was also seen at the site.

According to the sources, ED officials seized Rs 11.50 lakhs unaccounted cash from the residence of Raut earlier on Sunday.

ED sleuths reached Raut’s residence around 7 am on Sunday and conducted the raid.

Soon after the ED officials detained him in connection with the Patra Chawl land scam case, the Shiv Sena leader said that he “won’t be cowed down”.

Speaking to media persons, Raut said, “False charges and documents are being framed against people. All of this is being done to weaken Shiv Sena and Maharashtra. Sanjay Raut won’t be cowed down. I will not leave the party.”

On June 28 this year, Sanjay Raut was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the prevention of the money laundering case pertaining to the Rs 1,034 crore Patra Chawl land scam.

Refusing to join the probe and citing the Monsoon Session of Parliament as a reason for not joining the probe, he then dared the probe agency to arrest him. Later, he reached the ED office.

The ED, which took Pune-based businessman Avinash Bhosale into custody earlier in connection with the DHFL-Yes Bank case, wants to grill Raut in this matter too, as per sources. They claimed that Patra Chawl case of ED is also linked to the DHFL case.

In April this year, the ED had provisionally attached assets worth over Rs 11.15 crore belonging to Raut’s wife Varsha Raut and two of his associates as part of its investigation. (ANI)

Amid the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament, West Bengal BJP MPs on Monday protested against West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee over the alleged involvement of former state minister Partha Chatterjee in the SSC recruitment scam.

They raised “thieves” slogans against Mamata Banerjee and TMC.
The ED arrested Partha Chatterjee, who was also the Trinamool Congress secretary-general, on July 23 for an investigation into the teacher recruitment scam.

Meanwhile, days after heaps of cash and kilos of gold were seized from his aide Arpita Mukherjee’s homes in Kolkata, Chatterjee on Sunday claimed the money did not belong to him.

“When the time comes, you will know…the money does not belong to me,” he said to media persons today upon being asked about who is behind this conspiracy.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) seized around Rs 50 crore in cash from two homes belonging to Mukherjee during raids in connection with alleged irregularities in the recruitment of teachers. Both Chatterjee and Mukherjee were arrested earlier this month.

The ED unearthed many disproportionate assets allegedly of Partha Chatterjee since his arrest, of which were three flats in West Bengal’s Diamond City.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday demanded to remove the “Singur Andolan” chapter from history books claiming that the chapter has glorified “corrupt” Partha Chatterjee by calling him a freedom fighter.

BJP National Secretary Anupam Hazra asked Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to remove former Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee’s name from the pages of history books of the Madhya Shiksha Parshad.

“Honourable Chief Minister, this man is now in jail for embezzling money from millions of educated unemployed youth. Now at least remove his name from the pages of Class 8 History books. Otherwise, the new generation will start considering this person as equivalent to Netaji and Khudiram after seeing his name on the pages of the book,” tweeted Hazra.

A five-time MLA, Chatterjee was appointed as the minister-in-charge of higher education and school education in 2014 and he held the portfolio till 2021. (ANI)

Goods and Services Tax collection for the month of July was recorded at Rs 148,995 crore, which is 28 per cent higher as compared to the same month last year. This is the second highest revenue since the introduction of the GST in 2017.

Of the total, CGST was Rs 25,751 crore, SGST was Rs 32,807 crore, IGST was Rs 79,518 crore (including Rs 41,420 crore collected on import of goods) and cess was Rs 10,920 crore (including Rs 995 crore collected on import of goods), the Ministry of Finance said in a statement.
In June 2022, total GST collections were at Rs 1.44 lakh crore. For five months in a row now, the monthly GST revenues have been more than Rs 1.4 lakh core, showing a steady increase every month.

It is important to note that the GST revenue collections crossed the Rs 1.5 lakh crore mark for the first time in the month of April at Rs 1.68 lakh crore.

“The growth in GST revenue till July 2022 over the same period last year is 35% and displays a very high buoyancy. This is a clear impact of various measures taken by the Council in the past to ensure better compliance. Better reporting coupled with economic recovery has been having a positive impact on the GST revenues on a consistent basis,” the statement added.

Last month, the five-year of the GST regime was completed. The government through the GST taxation system intended to bring in uniform taxes across the country, besides transparency, accountability, and a simpler registration process.

GST was introduced in the country w.e.f. 1st July 2017 and States were assured for compensation for loss of any revenue arising on account of implementation of GST as per the provisions of the GST (Compensation to States) Act, 2017 for a period of five years.

For providing compensation to States, Cess is being levied on certain goods and the amount of Cess collected is being credited to Compensation Fund. Compensation to States is being paid out of the Compensation Fund with effect from July 1, 2017.

In the recent GST Council meeting held in Chandigarh, several states have sought an extension of the compensation at least for a few years, if not for 5 years. Any formal decision on it is yet to be taken. (ANI)