ED arrested second leader of NCP: Maharashtra Min Nawab Malik arrested

In a stunning events, the Enforcement Directorate(ED) arrested Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik after he was grilled for nearly 8 hours in an alleged illegal land deal case.

After probing NCP leader Nawab Malik, the Enforcement Directorate(ED) arrested him on Wednesday in connection with a money laundering case linked to the activities of the Mumbai underworld, and fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his aides.

Nawab Malik becomes the first sitting minister and a second senior NCP leader after the former Home Minister Anil Deshmukh was arrested by ED on November 2, 2021 in alleged corruption and money-laundering cases.

The arrest comes after the 62-year-old NCP leader arrived at the ED’s office in south Mumbai’s Ballard Estate area at around 8am where his statement was being recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act(PMLA).

State cabinet minister for minority affairs department Malik is the spokesperson of the Nationalist Congress Party(NCP) and is known to be a close aide of party chief Sharad Pawar.

It's said that, Dawood Ibrahim’s younger sister Haseena Parkar's close aide Salim Patil property at LBS Kurla was brought by Nawab. The property was bought at a price around Rs.35 to 40 lakh whereas the real cost of the property was more than Rs 4 crore. The other person who sold the property to Malik was Sardar Shahwali Khan, a civil contractor who was held guilty of helping Memon in executing the Mumbai serial blasts in 1993.

• The Enforcement Directorate had carried out multiple raids recently and taken custody of gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s brother Iqbal Kaskar.

• After his arrest, Malik said he won’t bow down. “We will fight and win. We won’t bow down,” Malik said waving to waiting media as he stepped out of the ED office in south Mumbai after spending eight hours there. He was then taken by ED officials in a vehicle for a medical check-up.

Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil accused the Centre of engaging in vendetta and objected to the questioning of Malik by the ED without any notice. NCP leader and former Rajya Sabha member Majeed Memon said the party will not keep quiet and fight lawfully till the end if the action against Malik is motivated by politics and being carried out with some vengeance and malice, and asked the ED officials not to be their political master’s slave.