Nawab Malik usurped another property in Kurla: ED

PMLA court on Thursday extended remand of 62-year-old cabinet minister till March 7 after ED made fresh claims.

Mumbai: A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court on Thursday extended the Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody of Maharashtra minorities development minister Nawab Malik to March 7 after the agency claimed that the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader had usurped another property in Kurla and his role needed further investigation.

The ED arrested 62-year-old Malik on February 23 in connection with a money laundering case registered against fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim, wanted for the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts. (Bhushan Koyande/ HT Photo)

The ED arrested 62-year-old Malik on February 23 in connection with a money laundering case registered against fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim, wanted for the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts. The arrest was made after the ED raided several premises of persons linked to Ibrahim, including his late sister Haseena Parkar, with whom Malik had allegedly had transactions related to a property in the 2000s.

On Thursday, additional solicitor general Anil Singh for the ED sought an extension of six days in Malik’s custody claiming that the agency had found that the NCP leader had usurped one more property in Kurla.

“The accused has also illegally occupied / usurped another property in Kurla. It appears that this property is usurped without there being any valid documents of sale and by threatening the owners of the land. Further investigation is necessary. When the victim protested, he was abducted from his home and threatened with dire consequences. The victim had also met the accused about the illegal occupancy (of the second Kurla property), but were told to forget the property,” the ED’s latest remand application stated.

“In the above case, roles of the accused and underworld have surfaced. Prima facie, the accused and his family members appear to be the beneficiaries of the same. The accused is required to be confronted on this line and evidence is required to be collected to unearth the bigger picture behind this entire criminal activity involving the present accused and the underworld can be unearthed. The proceeds of crime generated also required to be investigated,” the application stated.

In its first remand application, the agency claimed that Malik had usurped Goawala Compound, a property in Kurla measuring about three acres and valued at about ₹300 crore, by reportedly paying ₹60 lakh to Parkar (who did not have any claim to the property), thus indirectly funding her fugitive gangster brother’s activities.

“By paying consideration for illegally occupied share to Haseena Parkar, Nawab Malik aided the D-Company financially,” said the ED’s application for Malik’s custody remand submitted last month. “The association of Nawab Malik with above mentioned D- Company members is clear from the statements of witnesses,” the first remand application contended.

Malik’s lawyer argued that the minister was a victim of fraud and was induced to pay for something that did not actually did not belong to the seller.

These allegations first surfaced in November 2021, when opposition leader and former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis addressed a press conference stating that Malik had struck a property deal with 1993 Mumbai bomb blast convict Sardar Shahwali Khan and Mohd Salim Ishaq Patel, who was a frontman of Parkar. “A prime property of 2.80 acres at LBS Marg in Kurla was brought by Solidus Investment Private Limited for a meagre ₹30 lakh. The signatory of the deal transacted was Faraz Malik, son of Nawab Malik,” Fadnavis had said, adding that the transactions took place between 2004 and 2007.

Malik had clarified at the time that his family company had purchased the plot of land — Goawala compound in Kurla — which was owned by a certain Munira Plumber who had given the power of attorney to Patel. Malik denied having any knowledge of Patel’s antecedents. He further clarified that a certain portion of the compound (300m) was in the name of Sardar Shah Wali Khan, whose father was a watchman in the compound. Malik said they paid Khan to surrender his right to that plot.