[BREAKING] Nawab Malik denied interim relief by Bombay High Court; judicial custody to continue

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday rejected the plea by Maharashtra Cabinet Minister Nawab Malik seeking release from judicial custody in the money laundering case involving underworld don Dawood Ibrahim which is being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED)..The Bench of Justices Prasanna B Varale and Shriram M Modak gave the verdict on the interim prayers sought by Malik in a Habeas Corpus plea seeking his release during the pendency of the petition."As certain debatable issues are raised, these issues are to be heard at length. Considering the grounds assigned, we are not inclined to grants reliefs in interim applications," the Court ruled..In his plea filed through Rashmikant & Partners, Malik assailed the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), his arrest and his remand, terming them illegal. He 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 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..ED opposed the plea with a preliminary reply, claiming that Malik sought to combine multiple causes of action in his plea, which was not maintainable. The agency sought dismissal of the writ petition on the ground that filing of the same was a dilatory tactic to derail an ongoing investigation..During the hearing which went on for 3 days, arguments were made by Senior Advocate Amit Desai on behalf of Malik. ED was represented by the Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh..Desai made the following submissions: That Malik had been implicated though there was no predicate offence;That the case against Malik was based on statements by persons (belonging to the underworld or connected to people from the underworld) who are not credible;That the transactions for which Malik has been implicated are from 1999, 2003 and 2005, at a time when there was no Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA);Questioned how Malik could have been arrested for an offence under Section 3 of PMLA when the alleged predicate offences were committed prior to 2005 and amendments to Section 3 were introduced only in 2013;Reiterated that Malik was arrested for a 22-year-old transaction after applying PMLA retrospectively;That personal liberty of a man should not be taken away in the circumstances of the present case;"Habeas corpus is the 'brahmastra' of the judiciary, the most powerful weapon to uphold someone's liberty" he remarked in conclusion..The ASG, meanwhile, opposed the plea with the following submissions, apart from assailing its maintainability:That habeas corpus will lie only if the remand order is mechanical or absolutely illegal. In the present case, the order was passed after careful consideration of all submissions and material on record before the special PMLA judge;That offences under Sections 3 and 4 of PMLA were separate offences which were independent of the offences mentioned in the schedule of PMLA;That even if the Court concluded that the “predicate offence” which has led to the money laundering is quashed, the offence of money laundering will independently survive;That money laundering is an independent offence, to which the rigors of Section 45 of PMLA apply;The release sought by Malik was essentially in the nature of bail and hence the twin conditions under Section 45 (II) under PMLA would apply;In view of this, the Court has to be satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the accused is not guilty of the offence or is not likely to commit any offence while on bail;That ECIR is a private document for the internal record of ED and cannot be quashed;Relying on the original arrest memo which showed that Section 19 of PMLA was complied with, it was submitted that Malik's arrest was legal..After hearing the arguments at length, the Bench reserved the verdict on March 11 which was pronounced today. .ED had arrested Malik on allegations that he had allegedly purchased property from underworld don Dawood Ibrahim for an amount of ₹20 lakh (through a company controlled by him - Solidus Investments Pvt. Ltd.) which was lower than the market value (₹3.54 crore as per ready reckoner rate).Malik was allegedly picked up from his residence at 7 am on February 23 this year 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 produced before Special PMLA Judge who remanded him to 8-day ED custody which was extended for 4 days, and eventually Malik has been remanded to judicial custody till March 21, 2022..Desai appeared alongside Advocates Tareq Sayed, Kushal Mor briefed by Advocate Rohan Dakshini from Rashmikant & Partners.Singh appeared with Advocates Hiten Venegaokar, Aditya Thakker and Pranav Thackur for ED..[Read order]