Mr Malik is currently in ED custody until March 3.
Bombay:
Maharashtra’s minister Nawab Malik, who was arrested last week, approached the Bombay Supreme Court on Monday to quash the case brought against him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigating money laundering linked to the fugitive. underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.
Mr Malik is currently in ED custody until March 3.
The Nationalist Congress party leader on Monday filed a petition with the Supreme Court to quash the case and also order a special court to detain him at the ED.
He claimed his arrest was “illegal” and that he was the target of a “vocal critic of the abuse of central agencies”.
The petitioner stated that he is not the first to be targeted and this is a worrying trend across the country where central authorities are being abused by the party in power.
Malik requested his immediate release from the custody of the ED and requested the Supreme Court to declare his arrest illegal.
The plea is likely to be called Tuesday to call for an urgent hearing.
In his petition, Mr Malik stated that he was forcibly removed from his residence on February 23 by ED officials without any notice or summons under Section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
The minister further stated that the February 23 decision of the special court designated to hear cases of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) had no jurisdiction.
The case of the ED is that Mr Malik, in conjunction with Dawood Ibrahim’s assistants – Haseena Parker, Salim Patel and Sardar Khan, forged a criminal conspiracy to appropriate the ancestral property of a Munira plumber in Kurla in Mumbai, worth about Rs 300 crore. So it concerns the proceeds of crime, the federal anti-money laundering service claimed.
The ED case is based on an FIR recently filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against Dawood Ibrahim and others. The NIA had filed its criminal complaint under the articles of the Prevention of Illegal Activities Act (UAPA).
The statement of the Minister of Minorities is laid down under the Money Laundering Prevention Act (PMLA).
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)
