Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik, who was arrested last week, went to the Bombay High Court on Monday to ask that the case against him be dropped by the Enforcement Directorate, which is investigating money laundering linked fugitive underworld don, Dawood Ibrahim.The ED is holding Mr. Malik until March 3.
On Monday, the leader of the Nationalist Congress Party filed a petition in the high court to get the case, and the order that sent him to the ED threw out. He also wants the ED to keep him.
READ MORE: There is no question about Nawab Malik’s resignation: Maharashtra govt.
In a statement, he said that his arrest was “illegal.” He said that he was targeted because he was a “vocal critic” of the misuse of government agencies.
This is a horrible thing that is happening all over the country.
Central agencies are being used by the party in power to help them get things done.
Mr. Malik wants to be released from the ED’s custody right away, and he wants the high court to rule that his arrest was illegal.
The plea for an urgent hearing will likely be brought up on Tuesday.
When he filed a petition, Mr. Malik said that he was taken from his home by ED officials on February 23 without any notice or summons.
He was arrested under section 41A of the Criminal Procedure Code.
As a follow-up, the minister said that a particular court set up to hear money laundering cases did not have the authority to rule on February 23.
The ED says that Mr. Malik and Dawood Ibrahim’s aides, Haseena Parker, Salim Patel, and Sardar Khan, hatched a plan to steal Munira Plumber’s ancestral home in Mumbai which is worth about 300 crores.
Because of this, the federal anti-money laundering agency said that the money came from crime.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) recently filed an FIR against Dawood Ibrahim and others.
The ED case is based on that FIR. People arrested by the NIA had been charged with crimes under sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
It was recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, which the Minority Affairs Minister said (PMLA).
