Did Nawab Malik conspire with D-Company to usurp Kurla property?
Did the National Congress Party (NCP) senior leader Nawab Malik conspire with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's D-Company to usurp property in Kurla Mumbai? Well, the prima facie evidence presented before the special court for the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Mumbai does suggest so. Meanwhile, the court took cognizance of the Enforcement Directorate's charge sheet against Malik.
Why does this story matter?
ED had arrested Malik on February 23 after questioning him for several hours. The probe agency had claimed to have established a money trail that links the NCP leader to the underworld. The Shiv Sena and Congress had called his arrest a political vendetta by BJP, saying the party is using central agencies against its opponents. The BJP, however, rejected the charges.
What did the Court say?
The charge sheet was filed last month after which the special judge Rahul Rokde said that it appears that there are sufficient grounds for proceeding further with this case. "My opinion is that process is required to be issued in this case against the accused arrayed in this complaint," he said after going through various documents placed on record.
How did the court proceedings begin?
Recently, the Court launched the proceedings against Malik and his firms, as well as a 1993 blast convict Sardar Shahvali Khan aka Sardar Khan. It followed the ED probe indicated that Hasina Parkar (dead sister of underworld don Dawood, who managed the D-Company in local parlance) was involved in the unlawful possession of crucial assets including Goawala Compound in Kurla for obtaining terror money.
What does the charge sheet say against Malik?
According to the ED charge sheet, Malik and members of the D-Company illegally plotted and took unauthorized possession/acquisition of the property. "It appears from the statements that Sardar Khan was also a part of the conspiracy. In lieu of his assistance in usurping the property of Plumber, he got an area in Goawala Compound in Mumbai's Kurla," the charge sheet added.
NIA probes the high-profile case
Earlier, a case was filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against Dawood Ibrahim and others. The agency had registered a case under the terms of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). Later, the ED started investigating Malik's connection to Dawood which led to an alleged plot of criminal conspiracy to seize the ancestral land of Munira Plumber valued at over Rs 300 crore.
Malik is a five-time MLA
Nawab Malik, a five-time MLA, is the national spokesman of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which is part of Maharashtra's Shiv Sena-led government. He is the minister in charge of minority issues. One of the BJP's most outspoken opponents, Malik recently became the face of the criticism in the Narcotics Control Bureau's (NCB's) detention of megastar Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan.
