HC to ED: Reply to Nawab Malik’s petition for quashing ECIR

A bench of Justices SB Shukre and GA Sanap heard Mailk’s counsel, Senior Advocate Amit Desai, for a brief period before deciding to refer the case to a regular bench

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday sought the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) response to Maharashtra Cabinet Minister Nawab Malik’s Habeas Corpus petition, which challenged the ED’s money laundering case against him and sought his immediate release from custody. A bench of Justices SB Shukre and GA Sanap heard Mailk’s counsel, Senior Advocate Amit Desai, for a brief period before deciding to refer the case to a regular bench.

Mahavikas Aghadi (MVA) activists hold an agitation in support of NCP leader and minister Nawab Malik. (Bhushan Koyande/ HT Photo)

On Wednesday, Malik’s counsel, senior advocate Amit Desai, informed the division bench of justice Sunil Shukre and justice Govinda Sanap that the arrest and subsequent remand granted by the special PMLA court to ED was illegal and hence sought quashing of the remand order as well as the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) registered by the ED. The 62-year-old cabinet minister was arrested by the agency on February 23.

After the bench said that it was not assigned to hear the case, Desai submitted that as the bench concerned was not available today and the arrest and custody of Malik violated his fundamental rights, there was an urgent need to hear the matter and hence the court should hear the matter. Making preliminary submissions Desai submitted that the special PMLA court had erred in granting the NCP leader’s custody, as it failed to take note of the fact that the alleged offence had occurred prior to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act coming into force and hence its provisions could not be applied retrospectively.

After hearing the preliminary submissions, the bench adjourned hearing of the petition to Monday and directed the ED to file its response to the habeas corpus petition. In his petition, Malik has claimed that his custody and incarceration was abjectly illegal and hence, the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) should be quashed and he should be released forthwith.

The habeas corpus petition filed through advocates Taraq Sayed and Kushal Mor has claimed that the summons issued to him on February 23 and his subsequent arrest on the same day by the ED was out of political vendetta as he was vocal and critical of the misuse of central agencies by the central government. “The petitioner states that he is not the first to be targeted and this is a worrying trend across the nation where central agencies are being misused by the party in power,” said the petition.

Challenging the remand order by the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court, the 62-year-old cabinet minister has said that ED had filed a long-drawn remand application so as to mislead the court and get a favourable order.

The NCP leader was on February 23 summoned by the ED and was questioned in a money-laundering probe linked to the activities of the Mumbai underworld fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his aides. After seven hours of grilling, he was arrested by the ED.

The petition states that while the arrest was illegal as the ED did not follow the proper procedure of issuing him a notice under section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and section 19 of the PMLA. However, the special court failed to take cognizance of the same and remanded him to the custody of ED.

The petition added that the alleged transaction which linked him to the anti-national elements was merely a commercial deal wherein a purchase and sale was affected between two parties 20 years ago when the PMLA was not enacted. In light of these averments, the petition has claimed that as there was no evidence of his links with the underworld and the provisions of the Act cannot be applied retrospectively, hence his arrest and custody was illegal and should be released forthwith.