Nawab Malik walks out of hospital after court grants cash bail

NCP leader Nawab Malik has been released on cash bail from CritiCare Hospital, where he was being treated for kidney-related ailments. He was arrested by the ED in connection with a money laundering case. The court has set conditions for his release, including surrendering his passport and refraining from speaking to the media about the case. The ED has accused Malik of indirectly funding the activities of gangster Dawood Ibrahim's gang.

A special court for handling cases registered against MPs and MLAs on Monday allowed Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik to be immediately released on cash bail. Later in the evening, he moved out of CritiCare Hospital in Kurla where he was admitted for kidney-related and other ailments.

Mumbai, India - Aug 14, 2023 : NCP leader Nawab Malik leaves from the Hospital after being granted a Bail at Kurla, in Mumbai, India, Monday, Aug 14, 2023. (Photo by Vijay Bate/HT Photo) (Hindustan Times)

NCP working president Supriya Sule, who reached the hospital in the afternoon, had to wait for more than four hours as Malik could come out only after 8 pm.

“I had been to welcome Anil Deshmkh when he was released on bail; today Nawab bhai is coming out on bail. It is unfortunate that he had to face injustice and ordeal. It is a big relief for the family and the NCP as well. It was a tough time for all of us. I have closely seen the torment faced by the families of Nawab bhai and Deshmukh,” Sule told reporters.

To a question if Malik was joining Sharad Pawar’s NCP or Ajit Pawar faction, Sule said, “I don’t know (where he is headed). I have not come here as a party leader or for politics. Nawab bhai is my elder brother and that is the reason I am here. He has not been keeping well for a long time and hence was admitted to the hospital.”

Malik was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on February 23, 2022, in connection with a money laundering case. The ED’s case is based on the FIR registered by the National Investigation Agency on February 11 last year against gangster Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar and some of his close aides.

During his judicial custody, Malik’s health deteriorated, and he was allowed to be shifted to CritiCare Hosptial on May 17 last year. Thereafter he continued to be in the hospital.

On August 11 this year, the Supreme Court granted him interim bail for two months on medical grounds. “Let him be released on interim bail on medical grounds for two months from today on such terms the trial court may consider fit and proper,” a bench of justice Aniruddha Bose and justice Bela Trivedi said.

Accordingly, Malik’s lawyers on Monday approached the special MPs/MLAs court, urging it to set the conditions for his release. The court allowed Malik to be released on a personal bond of ₹50,000 and one or two sureties in the same amount. He has been asked to deposit his passport and also his medical reports with ED officials. Malik has also been restrained from speaking to the media about the case and from interacting with any witnesses or persons related to the case.

The ED has accused Malik of “indirectly funding D-gang’s activities by usurping a prime piece of land in Kurla, which is worth around ₹300 crore, with the help of Dawood’s deceased sister, Haseena Parkar”. In its chargesheet, the agency claimed that the former minister had paid only ₹20 lakh to acquire the property, Goawala Compound, in September 2005, and paid the money to people other than the owner of the three-acre plot, Munira Plumber.

The agency claimed that Malik and Parkar connived to usurp the property using a fabricated power of attorney after the death of the owner, Munira Plumber’s father Fazalabbas Goawala, following which “nobody was looking after the said property”.

The chargesheet stated that Malik, an alleged local muscleman, first “illegally” occupied a store in the compound and got the tenancy registered in the name of his brother, Aslam Malik. Parkar’s driver-cum-bodyguard Salim Patel had allegedly met Plumber, posing as a social worker, and convinced her to execute a power of attorney in his favour so that he could help her clear the encroachments on the property as well as settle the disputes with tenants.

According to the ED, Patel, on Parkar’s instructions, prepared a supplementary power of attorney, which was used to transfer the property to Solidus Investments (a firm owned by Malik’s family). Solidus was a tenant at Goawala compound.