The High Court of Bombay on Thursday refused to grant temporary bail on medical grounds to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and former Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case.
The Single-Judge Bench of Justice Anuja Prabhudessai, while denying temporary relief to the NCP leader, said that it would hear Malik’s regular bail petition on merits in two weeks.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had arrested Malik in March 2022 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) over his alleged connection to fugitive underworld Dawood Ibrahim and his sister Haseena Parkar.
He was arrested on charges of purchasing a property at a rate lower than market value from gangster Dawood Ibrahim. He was allegedly picked up from his residence at 7 am on February 23.
After interrogation for over eight hours, Malik was arrested and remanded to ED custody for eight days, after which he was remanded to judicial custody.
Earlier on November 30, Special Judge R.N. Rokade in Maharashtra had denied him bail on the grounds that prima facie, there was evidence to indicate that a conspiracy had been hatched by Dawood’s sister Hasina Parkar, his driver Salim Patel and Malik to grab prime land owned by one Munira Plumber and her mother Mariyum Goawala.
Though Malik was not named in the scheduled offence but even otherwise, every process or activity, fell within the ambit of definition of money laundering, the Trial Court had observed.
The NCP leader challenged this order before the High Court, contending that despite finding flaws in the statement of witness Munira Plumber, the special court rejected his bail and even overlooked his serious medical condition.
Earlier, he had filed a Habeas Corpus petition in the High Court, which was dismissed. The Supreme Court had also upheld the High Court order.
The former Maharashtra Minister had applied for regular bail under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, after the Special PMLA Court took cognisance of the charge sheet in May 2022.
Earlier in April this year, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal mentioned the matter before Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, seeking bail on medical grounds.
Appearing for Malik, Sibal said that one of his kidneys has already failed and the other one was giving away.