Nawab Malik arrested: NCP leader funded terror network of Dawood, says ED; his lawyers object to term

Nawab Malik arrested: NCP leader funded terror network of Dawood, says ED; his lawyers object to term

Bhavna UchilUpdated: Wednesday, February 23, 2022, 11:34 PM IST
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Salman Ansari

The Enforcement Directorate told a special court that state cabinet minister Nawab Malik funded the terror network of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim through his late sister Haseena Parkar.

It made this submission in its remand report submitted before the court, where the senior leader of the Nationalist Congress Party was produced after his arrest this afternoon. The ED sought his custody for 14 days, for his interrogation. The court remanded the sitting minister in the agency’s custody till March 3.

Malik’s advocate Amit Desai strongly objected to the use of terms such as ‘terror funding’ in the remand report by the ED. “So the headline will be terror funding tomorrow. For the last 25 years, this man has been in public service. I do believe our public knows who they are voting for,” he argued. He denied Malik’s links with the Dawood gang as alleged. He also argued that the offences relate to a time when the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) was not in force and hence, cannot be retrospectively applied.

The ED’s remand report said Malik usurped a three-acre prime property in Kurla of one Munira Plumber worth Rs 300 crore, for Rs 55 lakh. The sale was through Salim Patel, who held the power of attorney for Munira whom she had tasked with removing encroachments, apparently unaware of his links to Parkar. Patel was a driver and close associate of Parkar. The land was usurped through a firm, M/s. Solidus Investments Pvt. Ltd., owned by Malik’s family and controlled by him, the ED stated.

The agency said the property usurped by him with the connivance of D-gang members was ‘proceeds of crime’ under the PMLA. It further said that in lieu of the property, he had funded the terror network of Dawood Ibrahim through his sister Haseena Parkar. The acquisition of the proceeds of crime generated from the act of extortion or other illegal activities make him guilty of the offence of money laundering, it said.

“For usurping the property, members of the D-gang and Nawab Malik connived together and executed several legal documents to put a facade of genuinity over the criminal act,” the remand report read.

The land deal, it said, was nothing but a successful attempt to financially strengthen the terror network of Dawood in India. “By paying consideration for the illegally occupied share of Haseena Parkar, Nawab Malik aided the D-Company financially,” the agency’s application stated. Malik’s association with D-company members is clear, the ED said, from the statement of witnesses and the documents obtained by it in searches and from authorities.

The owner Munira had told it in a statement, it mentioned, that she was not aware the land was sold to Malik by Patel, nor did she receive any consideration for the same. Only through media reports last year did she learn of Patel’s underworld links and about the land being sold.

It said that from the documents related to the sale, it found that one Sardar Khan, an accused in the 1993 Bombay serial blasts had played an important role in the sale.

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