Maharashtra Minority Affairs Minister Nawab Malik, arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case on Wednesday, was sent to the ED custody till March 3 by a special PMLA court in Mumbai. Malik, a spokesperson of the Nationalist Congress Party, was arrested after being questioned for several hours at the ED office.
The court allowed the minister to carry his medicines and home-cooked food during his 8-day custody. The 62-year-old NCP leader was produced before special Judge R.N. Rokade, who remanded him in the ED custody for further probe into the matter.
According to reports, the agency had sought a 14-day custody of Malik, saying he was not cooperating with the investigation.
Malik was arrested in a money-laundering probe linked to the activities of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his aides. The ED had on Tuesday carried out raids at the residence of Dawood’s sister Haseena Parkar in Mumbai. The agency had also conducted searches at 10 different locations related to Parkar in Nagpada.
The ED has alleged that a property in Kurla that Malik bought belonged to one Munira Plumber and was acquired by Parkar through a forged power of attorney, wherein all the powers to sell the land was given to Parkar’s driver and bodyguard Salim Patel.
Political war of words
The arrest of Malik sparked off a political war of words with leaders of the ruling alliance in Maharashtra terming the ED action as a political vendetta and accusing the BJP of misusing the central agencies to target its political opponents.
The NCP termed the action against Malik as a “pressure tactics” to silence his voice since he was exposing the wrongdoing of some people. Party supremo Sharad Pawar alleged that central government was taking names of the underworld only to defame and trouble people.
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut alleged that the central investigation agencies were acting like mafia and targeting BJP’s political opponents. "This (targeting of individuals by digging old cases) will continue till 2024 and after that they will have to face the consequences," Raut said.
The Congress party, too, has come out in support of Malik with its state president Nana Patole terming the NCP leader’s arrest as an “act of revenge”.
He said Malik was targeted as he has been raising his voice against the BJP's "anti-people" policies and its "arrogance of power".
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who has been critical against the Centre over a number of issues, spoke to Pawar over phone and extended her support over the arrest of Malik.
The BJP, however, rejected the allegations and demanded the resignation of Malik from the cabinet.
"After the arrest by ED, Malik has no moral and legal right to remain in the position of a cabinet minister. I would like to request Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to take a decision (on his resignation) at the earliest," state BJP president Chandrakant Patil said.
