Money laundering case: Nawab Malik files for bail on medical grounds

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Malik on February 23 in connection with a money laundering case

Mumbai: Maharashtra minorities development minister Nawab Malik on Thursday approached the special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002) court seeking bail on medical grounds. The court has posted the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader’s plea for a hearing on May 2.

ED claimed Nawab Malik has usurped a prime property at Kurla (HT PHOTO)

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Malik on February 23 in connection with a money laundering case registered against fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and some of his close aides. The 62-year-old is presently in judicial custody and lodged in Arthur Road jail.

ED had initiated a money-laundering investigation against Dawood Ibrahim and some of his close associates, based on an FIR registered by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on February 3, 2022, in connection with the purported terrorist activities and drug trafficking undertaken by the gang.

ED claimed Nawab Malik has usurped a prime property at Kurla -- Goawala Compound spread over three acres and valued at about ₹300 crore at a current market price -- originally owned by one Munira Plumber through Solidus Investments, in active connivance with Haseena Parkar, the late sister of Dawood Ibrahim.

“For usurping this property, Haseena Parkar and Nawab Malik connived together and executed several legal documents to put a façade of genuinity for this criminal act,” ED had said in a release.

“These persons illegally transferred the land belonging to Munira Plumber and her mother Mariyam Goawala by getting it registered on the strength of fake/forged documents in the name of Solidus Investments Private Limited,” the agency added.

The agency has claimed that the rent amount of ₹11.70 crore collected by Solidus Investments and Malik Infrastructure from tenants on this property was also proceeds of crime, as contemplated under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.

The Malik family has rubbished the allegations and claimed that a family firm had purchased Goawala Compound from Munira Plumber’s power of attorney holder Mohd Salim Ishaq Patel, a purported frontman of Haseena Parkar, and the transaction was backed by valid documents.