Nawab Malik spends night in ED custody; MVA leaders to stage protest

MVA leaders in Maharashtra will stage a protest on Thursday against the arrest of minister Nawab Malik, who spent the night in ED office here being held in money laundering case.

Ministers and legislators of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi in Maharashtra will stage a protest on Thursday against the arrest of minister Nawab Malik, who spent the night in ED office here after the Central agency obtained his custody in a money laundering case.

Malik (62) was arrested on Wednesday after being questioned for about five hours at the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office in south Mumbai's Ballard Estate area and later produced before special judge R N Rokade, who remanded him in the ED custody till March 3.

The agency said the money laundering probe was linked to the activities of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his aides. Malik was produced in a special PMLA court where it claimed the NCP leader was "actively" involved in "terror funding".

Maharashtra ministers will participate in a protest near Mantralaya, the state secretariat in south Mumbai, on Thursday morning. From February 25 onwards, workers of all three MVA parties will hold morchas in the state.

There is no question of taking the resignation of Malik since he has not committed anything wrong, a senior NCP leader said after a meeting of top MVA leaders here Wednesday evening.