The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today arrested senior NCP leader and Maharashtra minister Nawab in connection with its money laundering case against underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and his aides.
One of the charges the ED is investigating against Malik, as was earlier leveled by former chief minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis was a property deal that Malik had entered into. There are allegations that the property was allegedly bought by Malik from an aide of Dawood Ibrahim at a price lower than its prevailing market rate.
Malik was questioned for eight hours in connection with a probe over money laundering linked to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. After he stepped out from the ED office in Mumbai and before being arrested, Malik had declared we “will win… won’t bow down”.
Malik, a senior spokesperson of the NCP, was taken from his home for questioning by the Enforcement Directorate early on Wednesday. The ED action against him had triggered criticism from the Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP, who constitute the coalition government in Maharashtra.
Responding to the questioning of Malik, NCP leader and former MP Majid Memon claimed the ED had initiated proceedings against Malik without “any prior notice” and described the action as illegal.
The 62-year-old NCP leader was taken into custody after he was questioned for about five hours at the ED office in south Mumbai’s Ballard Estate area since around 8 AM. His statement was recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and he was arrested under the same provisions as he was evasive in his replies, the officials said.
His party said he was taken by the ED from his residence at around 6 AM. According to sources, Malik was grilled over alleged transactions with gangster Dawood’s associates and land deals with them. He was evasive and didn’t cooperate with the investigation, the ED said.
On February 15, the ED had carried out raids at 10 locations including premises linked to Dawood Ibrahim’s late sister Haseena Parkar, brother Iqbal Kaskar and Salim Qureshi alias Salim Fruit, brother-in-law of gangster Chhota Shakeel. The agency also took custody of Dawood Ibrahim’s brother Iqbal Kaskar in the same case. According to sources, some evidence related to property purchased by Nawab Malik has surfaced during the ongoing investigation.
While Mr Malik was being questioned, NCP workers protested near the party’s headquarters, located close to the ED office in south Mumbai, and shouted slogans slamming the BJP-led central government and the probe agency. “The protest is against the unjust questioning of Nawab Malik as he was exposing the BJP+NCB+CBI+ED nexus on a daily basis. We will not be cowed down. NCP will keep exposing BJP and all central agencies,” party spokesperson Sanjay Tatkare said.
Malik had recently made headlines for attacking the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede accusing him of several service-related wrongdoings after the anti-drugs officer led the raid on a cruise ship on Mumbai’s shore in October last year and arrested 20 people including superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan.
Reacting to the allegations against Malik, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said invoking Dawood was a convenient way to sully someone’s reputation. “I don’t know about the case against him but Dawood’s name has always been invoked to try to defame rivals,” he said. Pawar claimed that he was also accused of having ties with the underworld when he was the state’s Chief Minister. “25 years later, the same trick is being used to harass and defame,” he added.
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut and Sharad Pawar have accused the central agencies of being politically motivated and claimed that anyone who speaks against the Centre and its probe agencies is targeted.
The BJP has rubbished allegations of political vendetta and accused Mr Malik of buying land from gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s aide. BJP MLA from Mumbai’s Ghatkopar West Ram Kadam also claimed that since the land was about to get seized by the government, the minister bought it at nominal rates from a bomb blast accused.
