A Mumbai court on Monday remanded Maharashtra cabinet minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik to judicial custody till March 21 in the money laundering case registered against him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED)..The order was passed by Special Judge RN Rokade on Monday..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 Rokade while remanding him to ED custody had 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.On day 8 of the custody, Judge Rokade extended Malik's custody to March 7, 2022 in view of the fact that 3 to 4 days during the earlier remand period were not available to investigating agency to question Malik since he had to be taken to hospital.Malik has separately moved a Habeas Corpus petition before the Bombay High Court alleging that his arrest was illegal. That petition will be heard by the High Court at 4 pm today..[Read order]
