Patra chawl redevelopment case: Only 250 Sena workers show up for support as Raut detained

ED officials reached his eastern Mumbai residence along with a posse of CRPF personnel at 7.20 am. Sources said the visit took the Raut family by surprise as they did not expect the ED team to show up at their residence early Sunday morning. Soon a message was sent across to Shiv Sena Bhavan asking all Sainiks to gather outside his house and protest against the Union government.

Among the first ones to reach were Shiv Sainiks from Bhandup and Kanjur village. Later those from Ghatkopar, Chembur, Mulund, Thane and other parts gathered outside Raut’s residence. With a split in the Shiv Sena eventually resulting in the breakaway Eknath Shinde faction forming the government with the BJP, fewer Sainiks than expected turned up to protest. Raut’s MLA brother Sunil and another MLA Ramesh Korgaonkar came out in his support. Former Sena MLC Shishir Shinde and some former corporators were also present.

While initially, the ED officers had just 30 police personnel tailing them, as the crowd swelled outside the Raut residence, they got some more personnel. Raut’s house has two entrances — one from the 90ft road in Bhandup east and second from the Bhandup village. There were around 70 Sainiks near the Bhandup village entrance and only about 100 supporters near the 90ft road one.

Initially, there was just zonal DCP Prashant Kadam managing the crowd, but when Commissioner Vivek Phansalkar saw the numbers increasing, he sent Additional Commissioner Dnyaneshwar Chavan of central region and Additional Commissioner of Special branch, Rajiv Jain to ensure things did not go out of hand. Personnel drawn from more than 12 police stations in the eastern region of Mumbai stood by watchfully as Raut’s detention played out.

With Sanjay Raut and his wife busy answering queries posed by the ED officers, his brother Sunil was coordinating the protests. Calls were also made to Uddhav Thackeray’s residence to send more Sainiks. The Sainiks blocked both the entrances to his house and raised slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the BJP.

Mama Manjrekar, a protester blocking one of the entrances, said, “Some of our MLAs may have gone with Eknath Shinde, but the Sainiks on the road are with Uddhavji. We will fight till the end.” Asmita Talekar, a Shiv Sainik who came all the way from Bhayander, said, “When I saw the news on TV, I came to his house to protest. I want to know why the ED acts only against Marathi people? Why not others?”

Tony Dias, a Sena deputy shakha pramukh from Sion, said, “I got a message from the party that Raut Saheb was facing ED action. After our meeting, held nearly four months back at the BKC, on the issue of Hindutva got a good response, PM Narendra Modi realised that the Shiv Sena poses a major challenge to his chances of winning the 2024 general elections. Hence, they started to act against Raut Saheb.”

The Sainiks, who gathered outside Raut’s residence, were also worried about police backlash. Seeing the police deployment, several Shiv Sainiks from other parts of Mumbai returned home. Raut had been busy answering calls from politicians from across the country since morning. Finally, around 2 pm, he had lunch and again started answering ED’s queries as they searched his house.

Speaking to The Indian Express, his brother Sunil Raut said, “The ED searched our entire house for papers and they did not find a single document against my brother. They gave us a notice and we decided to go to the ED office.” Sources in the Sena said Raut packed in anticipation of a long stay at the ED office and also took his medicines.

As he stepped out of his bungalow around 4.45 pm, the neighbours, too, gathered while his supporters raised slogans. His mother and wife sobbed as they watched him leave for the ED office. A Sainik was heard shouting to his mother, “Aai (mother), you are not alone. We are all with you. We are family members.”

Sunil Raut also accompanied his brother to the ED office.