Bombay HC to hear Nawab Malik’s plea challenging ED arrest on Wednesday – Hindustan Times

Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Tuesday permitted urgent circulation for the hearing of the petition filed by NCP leader and cabinet minister Nawab Malik, who has challenged his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the remand order by the special PMLA court.

In his petition, Malik has claimed that his custody and incarceration was abjectly illegal and hence, the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) should be quashed and he should be released forthwith.

The habeas corpus petition filed through advocates Taraq Sayed and Kushal Mor has claimed that the summons issued to him on February 23 and his subsequent arrest on the same day by the ED was out of political vendetta as he was vocal and critical of the misuse of central agencies by the central government.

“The petitioner states that he is not the first to be targeted and this is a worrying trend across the nation where central agencies are being misused by the party in power,” said the petition.

Challenging the remand order by the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court, the 62-year-old cabinet minister has said that ED had filed a long-drawn remand application so as to mislead the court and get a favourable order.

The NCP leader was on February 23 summoned by the ED and was questioned in a money-laundering probe linked to the activities of the Mumbai underworld, fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his aides. After seven hours of grilling, he was arrested by the ED.

The petition states that while the arrest was illegal as the ED did not follow the proper procedure of issuing him a notice under section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and section 19 of the PMLA. However, the special court failed to take cognizance of the same and remanded him to the custody of ED.

The petition added that the alleged transaction which linked him to the anti-national elements was merely a commercial deal wherein a purchase and sale was affected between two parties 20 years ago when the PMLA was not enacted.

In light of these averments, the petition has claimed that as there was no evidence of his links with the underworld and the provisions of the Act cannot be applied retrospectively, hence his arrest and custody was illegal and should be released forthwith.

The advocates mentioned the petition on Tuesday and it will be heard on March 2.