SC agrees to consider hearing Nawab Malik’s plea against ED arrest
The Sharad Pawar-led NCP has decided to distribute the portfolios held by Malik to other ministers of the party, according to senior leaders in the party. The NCP has, however, decided not to ask Malik to tender his resignation as demanded by the opposition BJP.
FollowThe Supreme Court has agreed to grant urgent listing to the petition filed by Maharashtra Minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik’s plea seeking immediate release from prison in a money laundering case.
A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana asked senior lawyer Kapil Sibal, appearing for the jailed leader who sought urgent listing of his plea, to provide documents. “Please give the papers,” said the bench, which also comprised Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli, news agency PTI reported.
The Prevention of Money Laundering Act came into being in 2005 and the Minister has been accused under the statute for the alleged offences committed prior to 2000, Sibal said.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested the Minorities Development Minister on February 23 based on an FIR registered against global terrorist Dawood Ibrahim, alleging Malik’s “involvement in terror funding” based on a 1999-2005 land deal involving Dawood Ibrahim’s late sister Haseena Parkar. He has been under custody ever since his arrest, with the Special PMLA Court at Mumbai extending his remand from time to time.
Malik has filed the Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court challenging the Bombay High Court’s order of March 15, 2022, refusing interim release in a habeas corpus petition filed on the ground that his arrest was “completely illegal”.
Malik held ministries of skills development and minority affairs in the state government, led by Shiv Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray. He is also the guardian minister of the Parbhani and the Gondia districts.
The Sharad Pawar-led NCP has decided to distribute the portfolios held by Malik to other ministers of the party, according to senior leaders in the party.
The NCP has, however, decided not to ask Malik to tender his resignation as demanded by the opposition BJP.
