SC junks bail plea of Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik in money laundering case
A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant said that it will not interfere with the Bombay High Court order of March 15.
FollowThe Supreme Court has refused to hear the bail plea of Maharashtra Cabinet Minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik in a case of money laundering, saying the probe is at a nascent stage, while refusing to grant bail and asking him to approach the trial court for bail.
A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant said that it will not interfere with the Bombay High Court order of March 15, news agency PTI reported. “It is too nascent a stage to interfere with the investigation. We can't interfere with the due process at this stage. You (should) move the competent court,” the top court said in its remarks.
Meanwhile, as per news agency ANI, a Special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court on Friday extended the judicial custody of the Maharashtra Minister till May 6.
The 62-year-old NCP leader was arrested in February in a case linked to Dawood Ibrahim, the mastermind of 1993 Mumbai blasts. Earlier the Bombay High Court had rejected the application by the minister to release him from jail.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing on behalf of Malik, questioned the validity of Nawab Malik’s arrest in February 2022 for an offence that purportedly happened in 1999. He said there is no case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) as there is no predicate offence.
The central agency has accused the NCP leader of being part of an alleged criminal conspiracy to usurp a property in Mumbai's Kurla area which currently has a market value of Rs 300 crore and belongs rightfully to one Munira Plumber.
Malik had submitted before the High Court that he had bought the property in a bonafide transaction three decades ago, and Plumber has now changed her mind about the transaction.
As per inputs, ED has attached 8 properties of the Maharashtra minister under the anti-money laundering law.
