[BREAKING] Bombay High Court to hear plea by Nawab Malik against ED case tomorrow

The Bombay High Court will hear on Wednesday the Habeas Corpus plea filed by Maharashtra Cabinet Minister Nawab Malik challenging the case of money laundering registered against him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and seeking his immediate release from ED custody..The matter will be heard by a Bench headed by Justice SB Shukre. The plea was first mentioned on Tuesday morning before the Court of Justice PB Varale who said that he will not be available in the afternoon session.It was then mentioned before Justice SS Shinde in the afternoon session who agreed to list it tomorrow."In light of the statement made by the counsel and in view of extreme urgency, we allow grant of circulation of matter on March 2 to be listed before appropriate bench.The Bench of Justice Varale is not available tomorrow, and so is Bench led by Justice Shinde. Accordingly the matter will be listed for hearing before Bench led by Justice SB Shukre," the order passed by Justice Shinde's Bench said..In his plea filed through Rashmikant & Partners, Malik assailed the ECIR, the arrest and the remand terming it illegalreHe stated that such illegal acts rendered his continued detention illegal and without jurisdiction entitling him to a writ of habeas corpus and immediate release.He has also sought setting aside of the order of the special PMLA judge dated February 23 by which he was remanded to ED custody for 8 days.One of the grounds emphasized in the plea is that the arrest by ED was illegal. The plea also claimed that the order by special judge remanding Malik, was passed without jurisdiction.Malik’s plea stated that his political rivals had been “deeply embarrassed by the exposes” carried out by himanHe added that his arrest was a “brazen and completely illegal action” by the ED to muzzle him..ED had arrested Malik on allegations that he had allegedly purchased a property at a rate lower than market value from Dawood.Malik was allegedly picked up from his residence at 7 am on February 23 for interrogation after he was made to sign the summons issued to him by ED.After interrogation for over 8 hours, Malik was arrested and taken for medical examination.From there, he was produced before Special Judge under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) who remanded him to 8-day custody.Special Judge RN Rokade while remanding him to custody reasoned that sufficient time would be required to investigate proceeds of crime which traversed over the last 20 years.The judge had also observed that the allegations against Malik were prima facie well-founded.