Maharashtra’s Ex Minister Nawab Malik Granted Interim Bail After 1.5 Years

On the basis of his health, the Supreme Court granted Nawab Malik, a former minister for Maharashtra, an interim bail of two months. He was taken into custody on February 23, 2022, after being detained in relation to a money laundering case, which resulted in 1.5 years in custody.

The interim relief is not based on merit but rather on medical grounds, according to a statement made by a justice Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi bench. He has kidney issues and is receiving medical attention. Allow 5 weeks for the submission of the reply and 3 weeks for the counter-affidavit to the main petition. The order stated, “We are passing the order entirely on medical conditions and have not entered merits. , the bench said.

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Malik had filed a petition with the Supreme Court challenging the Bombay High Court’s decision to deny him bail in the case being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on July 13 due to medical reasons.

In a case purportedly connected to the actions of wanted gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his cohorts, the ED had detained Malik in February 2022.

The leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is being treated at a Mumbai private hospital while being held in judicial custody.
Malik had requested assistance from the HC, alleging that in addition to other illnesses, he had a chronic renal problem. He also requested merit-based bail.

The high court had stated that it would consider his merit-based bail request in two weeks.
The ED’s case against Malik is based on a FIR that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against Dawood Ibrahim and his associates, a main suspect in the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb explosions and a designated global terrorist.

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Background

On February 23 of last year, the Enforcement Directorate detained Nawab Malik in connection with a money laundering investigation involving wanted criminal Dawood Ibrahim and his associates. Malik allegedly conspired with Haseena Parker, a D-gang member and Ibrahim’s sister, and two other individuals between 1999 and 2006 to take a property in Mumbai’s Kurla neighborhood. The government has charged the former lawmaker with violating the Prevention of Money Laundering Act on the grounds that Parkar handled the criminal affairs of the known gangster and international terrorist and that the money Malik reportedly gave her ended up being used to finance terrorism.