National Desk News Edition 24: Three months after Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) Devendra Fadnavis accused Nawab Malik of illegal land dealings, the Maharashtra minorities affairs minister was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday, 23 February, in connection with a money laundering case involving gangster Dawood Ibrahim.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Malik, who had been embroiled in a passionate feud with the ruling BJP in November 2021, has been arrested over a land deal wherein he had allegedly bought property from an aide of Dawood Ibrahim at a price lower than the prevailing market rate.
What Is the Case Against Nawab Malik?
In the special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court where Malik was produced on Wednesday, the ED said that it is investigating a land deal wherein Nawab Malik purchased a Rs 3.3 crore property for Rs 50 lakh from Salim Patel, a frontman of Ibrahim’s late sister Haseena Parkar.
The deal allegedly involved two people – Salim Patel and Sardar Shahwali Khan, who was convicted in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts case. Patel, who had the power of attorney and was under Haseena Parker’s authority, had allegedly sold the Kurla property to one of the companies owned by Malik.
“The property was purchased by illegal authorisation through the power of attorney,” ASG Anil Singh, representing the ED, said in the court on Wednesday. He added that the original owners of the property, Munira and Marium, were not aware of the transaction and had not been paid for their share, LiveLaw reported.
In the arrest order issued by ED Assistant Director Niraj Kumar, the agency said that Malik has been “found to be guilty of an offence punishable under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 (15 of 2003).”
The ED’s action against Malik comes a week after the financial investigation agency laid raids on some properties associated with Ibrahim. The agency had also visited the residence of Haseena Parkar’s Mumbai residence during the searches.
Sources told that the agency found several hawala transactions that were linked to illegal means such as extortion and sale of real estate in Mumbai, the financial links to which have been traced to Ibrahim and his aides during the investigation.
Devendra Fadnavis’ Claims About Malik’s Illicit Land Dealings With Dawood Aides
In a series of allegations made by Devendra Fadnavis in November 2021, the BJP leader had accused Nawab Malik of having had illicit property dealings with people from the underworld who have been convicted in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts case.
“He purchased land from convicts of the case on rates cheaper than market rates. Was this deal to save prime land from being forfeited under Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act law?” Fadnavis had asked.
The former chief minister of Maharashtra had also alleged that in 2005, Malik’s son Faraz had bought land on LBS Road from a Mumbai bombing accused.
“A prime land on LBS Road in Kurla was bought at a meagre price of Rs 30 lakh when the market rate was Rs 2,053 per square feet in 2005. Malik was a minister in the Congress-NCP government in 2005,” he stated, adding that the property was bought from blast convicts Salim Patel and Sardar Shahab Ali Khan.
Fadnavis claimed that the total deal for the plot was Rs 30 lakh but the amount paid was only Rs 20 lakh. “The amount went to the accounts of Salim Patel and SA Khan,” he alleged.
The BJP leader had said that he would send the proof of his claims to competent authorities.
What Had Nawab Malik Said About the Land Deal?
The NCP leader in November 2021 had dismissed Fadnavis’s allegations of illegal land dealings as baseless and malignant, adding that he did not know underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’s sister Haseena Parkar.
Malik had asserted that Solidus Investments Pvt Ltd, owned by his family, had leased a godown on the Kurla land in question from one Munira Patel.
Nawab Malik in November 2021“Patel approached us and told us that she wanted to sell us the land on which our godown that we had leased existed. We took ownership of the land and got the registration done through one Salim Patel who had the power of attorney.”
“Fadnavis spoke about the Mumbai bomb blast and referred to one Sardar Shahwali Khan. His father worked there as a watchman. He managed to put his name on the property card of the said land. When we purchased the plot, Sardar Shah Wali Khan had a 300-metre plot in his name. We paid him to surrender his right,” the state minister was further quoted as saying.