Court frames charges against Nawab Malik in PMLA case linked to Dawood

The Enforcement Directorate registered the case in 2022 and arrested Malik in February that year. He is currently out on medical bail granted by the Supreme Court

Former Maharashtra minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik will stand trial in a money-laundering case linked to fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim after he pleaded not guilty before a special court, which has now framed charges against him.

 

Special Judge Satyanarayan Navander, who hears cases involving MPs and MLAs, framed the charges under Section 3, read with Section 70, of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

 

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) registered the case in 2022 and arrested Malik in February that year. He is currently out on medical bail granted by the Supreme Court.

 

What is the case against Nawab Malik?

 

The ED's charges stem from an FIR filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against Ibrahim — a designated global terrorist and an accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts — and his associates under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

 

Investigators allege that land in Goawala Compound in Kurla, owned by two women, Munira Plumber and Marium Goawala, was taken over by Ibrahim’s sister, Hasina Parkar, through her associate, Salim Patel. The ED claims the power of attorney for the property was forged, transferred without authorisation, and later purchased by a firm named Solidus.

 

According to the agency, Solidus collected rent from tenants until 2010-11, after which Malik Infrastructure was formed to manage rent collection, repairs and maintenance.

 

Last week, Malik Infrastructure sought discharge, arguing that it entered into a lease arrangement with Solidus only in 2010–11 and did not exist before that, and therefore, charges cannot be framed against it.

 

The fourth accused, Sardar Khan, is serving a life sentence in the 1993 Bombay blasts case. Documents for framing charges against him will be sent separately to the Amravati jail, where he is lodged.