On Friday, August 11, the Supreme Court granted interim bail to former Maharashtra cabinet minister Nawab Malik who was arrested in February last year in a money laundering case with links to terrorist Dawood Ibrahim. Malik has been granted bail for a period of two months only. The bail order was granted on medical reasons, not on merits, stated a bench comprising Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi.
“He is in the hospital for kidney disease and other problems. Let counter-affidavit be submitted in response to the main petition within 5 weeks, followed by 3 weeks for a rejoinder. List after 10 weeks. Bail granted. “We are passing the order solely on medical grounds and have not taken into account merits,” the order stated.
The ruling was issued in response to a petition filed by Malik against a Bombay High Court order dismissing the interim medical bail petition.
The leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is in judicial custody and is being treated in a private hospital.
On July 13, the High Court denied Malik bail on medical grounds. Malik had sought relief from the High Court, claiming he had a chronic kidney-related condition in addition to other maladies. He also requested bail on the basis of merit. The high court said it will examine his bail application on merit in two weeks.
ED had arrested the NCP leader for alleged links with Dawood Ibrahim. On 21st April 2022, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) submitted the charge sheet against the NCP leader and Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik in Special PMLA court, in connection with the Dawood Ibrahim money laundering case. The charge sheet contained 5,000 pages and includes a statement of witnesses and other documentary evidence.
In February last year, the National Investigation Agency had revealed that fugitive terrorist Dawood Ibrahim was planning to launch terror attacks on India using explosives and lethal weapons. He had formed a special unit with the aim of inciting violence in different parts of the country.
The probe agency has also said that he has been transferring funds through Hawala channels to provide financial help to all those involved in a planned attack. He is involved in promoting anti-national activities and is also trying to create a rift between different religious groups, the agency added.
Nawab Malik’s name reportedly appeared in the process of investigation after the intelligence inputs directed the agency to look into the hawala transaction while probing a money laundering case against Ibrahim, Iqbal Mirchi, Chhota Shakeel, Parkar and Javed Chikna. The agency traced several hawala transactions linked to money illegally obtained through extortion, drug trafficking, sale of real estate in Nagpada and Bhendi Bazaar area of Mumbai, and other unlawful activities.
