A day after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided 14 locations in Mumbai, including the premises of those close to him and his party leader Aaditya Thackeray in connection with an alleged Covid 19-scam related money laundering case, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP and spokesperson Sanjay Raut on Thursday charged that the family members of Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde benefitted from a scam of severe crore of rupees in his home district of Thane.

Talking to media persons here, the Sena (UBT) spokesperson alleged that Shinde;s family members were involved in were related purported fake bills which were issued by certain companies for Covid-19 facilities at Thane and the neighbouring Kalyan-Dombivali towns.

“I am speaking on the basis of evidence. Fake bills for crores of rupees were raised for providing the facilities. The alleged fake billing benefited Shinde's family at that time,” Raut said,

Waving a bunch of documents and seeking an immediate reply to his allegations from the authorities concerned, Raut said: “The ruling Shiv Sena should first introspect  themselves and their alleged involvement in the scam before  hurling allegations at others”.

Raut’s allegation came on the heels of the ED raiding several locations in connection with the Covid-19 scam related money laundering case and also the State government’s decision to order an SIT probe into the large-scale financial irregularities that took place during the Covid-19 period.       

In raids that the ED conducted on Wednesday, the places that the central investigating agency searched included the premises of Sujit Patkar, a close aide of Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut and partner of Lifeline Hospital Management Services (LMHS).

The hospital had been given contracts by the BMC for setting up four jumbo COVID-19 centres in Dahisar, NSEL, Mulund, and Pune.

Also raided were  the premises of senior bureaucrat Sanjeev Jaiswal, the then Additional Municipal Commissioner of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation; Suraj Chavan, a personal assistant of Aaditya, some contractors and middlemen.

The money laundering that the ED is investigating is based on a  complaint made by eJP leader Kirit Somaiya in August 2022, in which he had named four partners of LMHS including Mr. Patkar. He had alleged that the hospital management had got contracts from the BMC to provide services in jumbo COVID-19 centres and that it resulted a loss of Rs 38 crore to the civic body.