The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued a fresh summons to Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut to appear before it on July 27 in Mumbai after he skipped the call for Wednesday for questioning in a money-laundering case, citing the ongoing Parliament session in Delhi, sources said.
The Rajya Sabha MP's lawyers met ED officials in Mumbai with his written response to the summons and sought time for him after the first week of August. Sources said Raut (60) expressed his inability to appear before the agency at its Mumbai zonal office on Wednesday as he is attending the Parliament session.
The ED gave him relief for only a week and according to officials, he has now been asked to depose before the federal probe agency on July 27. The Sena leader has denied any wrongdoing and alleged that he is being targeted due to political vendetta.
Raut is a loyalist of former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, who was recently forced out of office following a rebellion and split in the Shiv Sena. Raut was questioned in the case on July 1. He had spent about 10 hours with the investigating officer during which his statement was recorded under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The development comes amid a rebellion in the Shiv Sena with a tussle over the party symbol and the control of the organisation between Thackeray and current Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
(With PTI Inputs)
