The Enforcement Directorate on Sunday raided Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut’s home and later took him to the agency office for questioning, prompting renewed charges of the misuse of central probe agencies to harass Opposition leaders and parties.

Hours before the raid on the Rajya Sabha member, which comes with Parliament in session, Raut had in an article suggested the BJP had used the ED to blackmail Sena lawmakers into revolting and causing a change of government in Maharashtra.

On Sunday, as he was brought to the agency office for questioning in a money-laundering case, Raut told reporters he was being framed on the basis of “false evidence” to weaken the Sena.

He said he would not bow down or quit the party.“They (ED) are going to arrest me; I’m going to be arrested,” Raut, one of the Sena’s most articulate and senior-most spokespersons, said. “Jhukega nahi (Won’t bow down).”Till well after midnight, Raut was still at the ED office.

The ED action on Raut comes at a time Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, dethroned by a mass defection of MLAs that the BJP is widely believed to have engineered, is fighting a legal battle to retain control over the Sena and its election symbol.

Earlier this week, the ED had questioned Congress president Sonia Gandhi on consecutive days — in what her party says is a baseless money-laundering case — provoking a reiteration of the Opposition’s longstanding charge of government agencies being used for political motives.ED officials had arrived at Raut’s bungalow in suburban Bhandup around 7am with CRPF personnel, searched the house for nine hours, questioned him and then left with him for the agency office, sources said.

While the search was on, Raut tweeted: “False action, false evidence. I will die, but will not surrender. I will never leave the Shiv Sena. I swear by Balasaheb Thackeray that I am not involved in any scam. He taught us to fight and I will continue to fight for the Shiv Sena.”

The ED had earlier issued two summonses to Raut, the latest on July 27, for questioning in the money-laundering case, linked to alleged irregularities in the redevelopment of a Mumbai chawl and related transactions involving his wife and “associates”.

Raut had appeared before the agency in Mumbai to have his statement recorded on July 1, but skipped the two subsequent summonses citing the ongoing Parliament session.Late in the afternoon, Sena supporters holding saffron flags and banners shouted slogans against the ED when the agency officials stepped out of the bungalow with Raut.Sena workers tried to block the path of the ED vehicles but were removed by police, an official said.

Some of the protesters were bundled into a police van, he added.Before leaving with the ED officials, Raut walked up to the gates of his bungalow, waved at his supporters and displayed a saffron scarf.

His mother, watching from a first-floor window, appeared emotional.Uddhav alleged the agency action was part of a “conspiracy” to finish off his party.“He may get arrested. What conspiracy is this?

The Shiv Sena gives strength to Hindus and Marathi people and hence there is a conspiracy to finish off the party,” he said.

Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said the ED action presented a “sorry picture” of Indian democracy and alleged the BJP wanted to “silence” all Opposition parties.

Nationalist Congress Party MP Supriya Sule said the issue would be raised in Parliament.Maharashtra chief minister and leader of the Sena rebels, Eknath Shinde, and state BJP leaders said that if Raut was indeed innocent, he should not fear the ED.

Raut’s younger brother Sunil, an MLA, who was seen arguing with the police during the ED raid, claimed the search had failed to throw up any evidence linking Raut to the Patra Chawl case.Roads leading to the agency office in the Ballard Estate area of south Mumbai had been closed to vehicles, and barricades had been put up, an official said.

On Sunday morning, Raut had in his weekly column Rokhthok in party mouthpiece Saamana asked the rebel Sena lawmakers to own up that they had revolted against the party leadership to protect themselves from the ED.

“The rebel group should stop saying that they switched sides because the Shiv Sena gave up Hindutva. Why malign Hindutva unnecessarily? Show honesty in saying that all ran away to protect themselves for the Enforcement Directorate (ED),” he wrote.Raut claimed Sena leader Arjun Khotkar had honestly admitted that he had joined the rebels because he had been under pressure.The MP also cited how the ED had arrested Raees Khan, an aide to Sena MP Bhavana Gawali, only to free him once Gawali had rebelled against Uddhav.Raut said the income-tax department and the ED had been probing several Sena MLAs but once they rebelled, all the cases were shelved.