The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed Maharashtra cabinet minister Nawab Malik’s bail plea in a money laundering case, Live Law reported.
“It is too nascent a stage for us to interfere,” the court said.
Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik on April 3 had filed a plea in the Supreme Court against a Bombay High Court order that had rejected his bail petition in an alleged money laundering case.
Malik, a Nationalist Congress Party leader, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on February 23 in connection with the case involving fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his aides.
The bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant on Friday asked Malik to apply for the bail before a competent court, Live Law reported.
During the last hearing, it was argued that Malik was being arrested in 2022 for something that happened in 1999, for which he is “not in the picture at all”.
In a bail plea filed in the Bombay High Court on March 1, Malik had argued that his arrest was a “brazen and completely illegal action” by the Enforcement Directorate. He had said that his political rivals had targeted him after being “deeply embarrassed” by his “exposes”.
The High Court on March 15 had refused interim relief to Malik. A division bench comprising Justices PB Varale and SM Modak had said that the matters raised in the case were debatable and need to be heard at length.
On March 21, a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act court had extended Malik’s judicial custody till April 4.
Case against Malik
The Enforcement Directorate’s inquiry is based on a case filed by the National Investigation Agency in February against Ibrahim and his aides under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
The law enforcement agency has alleged that Malik was “actively involved” in funding terrorist activities.
Since last year, Malik has made several allegations about Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and former Narcotics Control Bureau Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede in connection to the Mumbai cruise ship drugs case, involving actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan.
Malik had also accused Wankhede of being part of an extortion racket linked to drug cases against Bollywood actors.
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