SC rejects Nawab Malik's plea in money laundering case
What's the story
The Supreme Court on Friday rejected the Special Leave Petition filed by Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik, challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case. "It is too nascent a stage to interfere with the investigation. We can't interfere with the due process at this stage," the SC said. The court also asked Malik to approach the "competent court."
Context
Why does this story matter?
The 62-year-old NCP leader was arrested on February 23 in connection with a case linked to global terrorist Dawood Ibrahim. In its FIR, the ED alleged Malik was involved in "terror funding" through a 1999-2005 land deal involving Dawood's late sister Haseena Parkar. Earlier, the Bombay High Court had refused to grant interim relief to the minister. Following this, he approached the SC.
Details
ED filed 5,000-page charge sheet on Thursday
Earlier on Thursday, the ED submitted a 5,000-page charge sheet in a special court for the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) cases in Mumbai. The court will take cognizance of the charge sheet after verification of the documents, PTI reported, quoting officials of the ED. The probe agency provisionally attached eight properties belonging to Malik and his family members earlier last week.
Properties
What do we know about the attached properties?
Malik's properties attached by the ED included Goawala Compound; three flats and a commercial unit in Kurla West; two flats in Bandra West in Mumbai and 147 acres of agricultural land in Osmanabad. The agency said these properties belonged to Malik, his family members, and family-owned companies Solidus Investments and Malik Infrastructure. Notably, it named Solidus Investments and Malik Infrastructure in the charge sheet.
Case
What was the case against Malik?
The ED alleged Parkar and Malik had seized a Kurla property from one Munira Plumber. In 2003, Malik bought Solidus Investments—a tenant on this property—through his family. Through Solidus, Malik gave money to Parkar to acquire ownership rights for the property in 2003 and 2005. The ED claimed the money paid to Parkar was "proceeds to crime," since she was part of Dawood's gang.