The Supreme Court on Friday refused to grant bail to Maharashtra cupboard minister and NCP chief Nawab Malik in a case of cash laundering, saying the probe is at a nascent stage.
A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant stated it is not going to intervene with the Bombay High Court order of March 15 however Malik can avail the treatment accessible beneath the legislation earlier than the trial court docket. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, showing for Malik, stated they arrested me in 2022 for one thing that occurred in 1999. He stated there isn’t a case beneath the Prevention of Money Laundering (PMLA) made out as there isn’t a predicate offence.
The bench stated the investigation it’s at a really nascent stage and that it’s going to not intervene with the excessive court docket order. On March 15, the Bombay High Court had rejected Malik’s interim utility looking for instant launch in a case of cash laundering, saying simply because the particular PMLA court docket’s order remanding him in custody just isn’t in his favour; it doesn’t make that order unlawful or unsuitable.
The Enforcement Directorate had arrested Malik in February beneath provisions of the PMLA after which he had filed a habeas corpus plea within the excessive court docket, claiming his arrest by the ED and the ensuing remands had been unlawful.
The HC had stated Malik’s counsel had argued earlier than the PMLA court docket and vehemently opposed the ED’s request for the minister’s custody. Yet, the particular court docket had remanded him to ED’s custody and subsequently to judicial custody primarily based on legitimate authorized grounds.
The excessive court docket had stated that the minister nonetheless had the choice to use for bail within the case earlier than the particular court docket. It had held that Malik was arrested by the ED in accordance with the legislation, and subsequently been remanded to the probe company’s custody after which to judicial custody following due course of. Therefore, there was no motive for the excessive court docket to cross any interim order directing Malik’s launch from custody, it had stated.
Malik was arrested by the ED over a property deal allegedly linked to the aides of gangster Dawood Ibrahim. The central company has accused Malik of being a part of an alleged legal conspiracy to usurp a property in Mumbai’s Kurla space which at present has a market worth of Rs 300 crore and belongs rightfully to at least one Munira Plumber.
Malik contended earlier than the HC that he had purchased the property in a bonafide transaction three many years in the past, and Plumber has now modified her thoughts in regards to the transaction.
Source: www.financialexpress.com”