‘Let BHC Hear’: SC Says On Nawab Malik’s Bail Plea In Money Laundering Case, Adjourns Hearing Till July

The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned the hearing to July the petition filed by ex-Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik, who has been imprisoned since February 23, 2022, following his arrest by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in a money laundering case.

Malik approached before the Supreme Court aggrieved with the Bombay High Court adjourning his bail application to June 6. The Supreme Court adjourned Malik’s plea, observing that the High Court cannot be bypassed. While doing so, the bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and MM Sundresh noted that the High Court is free to hear the case in the meanwhile.

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, arguing for Malik, expressed disappointment that the bail application in the High Court had been adjourned due to the absence of the Additional Solicitor General.

ASG SV Raju assured that the ED would be ready the following week. Sibal stated that Malik is suffering with health issues. “Look at his condition!” Sibal exclaimed.

Sibal persuaded the bench to order that the case be heard by the High Court the following week. “Why can’t it be discussed next week? He (ASG) says they’ll be ready next week,” Sibal said. However, the bench did not set a specified date for the hearing in the High Court.

The ED detained Malik in February of last year, charging that between 1999 and 2006, he hijacked a property in Kurla with the assistance of global terrorist Dawood Ibrahim’s late sister Haseena Parkar. It is the agency’s case that because Parkar managed the criminals’ unlawful operations, the money was eventually utilised for terror funding.

On November 30, 2022, Malik approached before the High Court after the Special Court denied him bail.

After learning that NCP leader Nawab Malik is suffering from kidney failure, the Bombay High Court sought to know how bail could be given despite Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

Section 45 imposes rigorous conditions to grant bail to accused in money laundering cases.