NCP leader and Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik
Highlights
- Nawab Malik was arrested after being questioned by the ED in a money laundering case
- ED's money laundering probe is linked to activities of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim
- A special court has remanded Nawab Malik in the custody of the ED till March 3
In a major crackdown against NCP leader Nawab Malik, the Enforcement Directorate has found a plot worth Rs 200 crore in Mumbai linked to his family. The land is located in the Bandra-Kurla area of the metropolis.
Sources said that the plot was purchased in 2006 via three different transactions from multiple buyers. Malik's son, Faraz, is a partner in the real estate firm which owns the plot. Earlier on Monday, the ED had summoned Faraz in connection with the money laundering case registered by the agency that is linked to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. However, Faraz didn't appear before the agency.
Malik, who is currently in the ED's custody till March 3, had on Monday filed a petition in the Bombay HC, claiming his arrest was illegal and sought immediate release. The HC will hear the petition on Wednesday.
Malik, Maharashtra's Minority Affairs Minister, was arrested last week in a case registered against him by the ED which is probing money laundering linked to Dawood. He has also urged the HC to quash the case.
In his petition, Malik claimed that he has absolutely no connection with any of the "anti-national" accused (Dawood Ibrahim and other gangsters) named in the FIR registered by the NIA which was the basis of the ED's case.
Malik stated that he was forcibly picked up from his residence by the ED officials on February 23, without any notice or summons under section 41A of the Criminal Procedure Code. The minister further stated that the February 23 order of the special court designated to hear the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) cases was without jurisdiction.
The ED's case is that Malik, in connivance with Dawood Ibrahim's aides - Haseena Parker, Salim Patel and Sardar Khan - hatched a criminal conspiracy for usurping the ancestral property of one Munira Plumber at Kurla in Mumbai, which is valued at around Rs 300 crore. Thus, it is the proceeds of crime, the federal anti-money laundering agency had claimed.
The probe agency's case is based on an FIR filed recently by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against Dawood Ibrahim and others. The NIA had filed its criminal complaint under sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
READ MORE: ED summons Nawab Malik's son in PMLA case connected to Dawood Ibrahim
