New Delhi: Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday in connection with a money laundering case. A special PMLA court has sent Malik to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody till 3 March.
Malik was brought to the ED office in Mumbai for questioning in connection with a case allegedly linked to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. The ED sought a 14-day custody of Nawab Malik, in the case.
“[I] have been arrested, but won’t be scared. We will fight and win,” NCP leader Nawab Malik said while being taken into custody.
Officers picked up Malik from his home in the morning and escorted him to the ED office, ANI reported, ANI reported.
The central probe agency was at Malik’s Kurla home by 6 am and brought him to the ED office around 7:30 am. He was grilled till his arrest in the afternoon.
NCP leader and Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik arrived at the office of the Enforcement Directorate in Mumbai. He was summoned by ED in connection with a property with alleged links to the underworld, questioning is underway. pic.twitter.com/34aULItS10
— ANI (@ANI) February 23, 2022
“Today morning the ED had come to @nawabmalikncp saheb’s residence. They accompanied saheb in his vehicle to the ED office. Advocate Amir Malik, Saheb’s son has accompanied saheb along with,” Nawab Malik’s office confirmed the development in a tweet.
The ED’s move comes after a new case was registered followed by raids on 15 February in Mumbai to probe operations of the underworld, alleged illegal property deals and hawala transactions.
According to an Indian Express report, Malik’s name first cropped up in intelligence inputs regarding a hawala case.
On 15 February, the central agency conducted searches at 10 locations, including premises linked to 1993 Mumbai blasts mastermind and fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s late sister Haseena Parkar, brother Iqbal Kaskar and Salim Qureshi alias Salim Fruit, brother-in-law of gangster Chhota Shakeel.
Kaskar, who was already in jail, was arrested by the agency last week. It also questioned Parkar’s son.
The interrogation comes two weeks after Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut claimed that he was approached by certain people who asked him to assist in toppling the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. Malik said the Sena leader was speaking the truth and that NCP leaders were also being targeted, The New Indian Express reported.
Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee spoke with NCP chief Sharad Pawar over the phone Wednesday following Malik’s arrest and expressed solidarity with the Maharashtra minister.
Malik was in news very recently for accusing Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede for professional misconduct. Wankhede had led the raid on a cruise ship in October last year and arrested several people, the most prominent among them being actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan.
(With inputs from PTI)
Also read: Centre has led out ED behind Nawab Malik because he has been speaking the truth: Sanjay Raut