Nawab Malik, Minority minister in Uddhav Thackrey’s government and a prominent NCP face has been arrested by Enforcement Directorate (ED). The arrest has been made in a money laundering case linked to gangster Dawood Ibrahim.
Read More: Devendra Fadnavis absolutely drills Nawab Malik into the ground
Nawab Malik: A minority minister who became a household name with the Aryan Khan case
Nawab Malik is the minority minister in Uddhav Thackrey’s Government. Born in UP, Maharashtra minority minister rose to newspaper front-page headlines with the Aryan Khan case when he called former CM Devendra Fadnavis “the mastermind of drug racket in Maharashtra.”
Malik began his political career through Samajwadi Party in Mumbai around 1995. He even won an election on an SP ticket from the Nehru Nagar assembly seat. He later joined NCP in 2001 when he was kicked out of the Samajwadi Party due to “anti-party activities.” He has never lost an election since then barring 2014. About his ideology, the minority minister claims that he does not like “religion-based politics.”
Read More: BJP is dismantling MVA brick by brick, courtesy Devendra Fadnavis and Narayan Rane
Malik’s influence was limited to his home turf Kurla until the Aryan Khan drug case made him one of the protagonists of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government.
Background: Case in which Malik has been arrested
Nawab Malik has been arrested on charges levelled up by BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis in November last year. Former CM alleged Malik of underworld links. The allegations suggest that property was brought by Malik from Dawood’s aide at a much lower price than the market.
As per the allegations, Malik brought property from two men, Sardar Shahwali Khan, and Mohammad Salim Ishaq Patel alias Salim Patel, both of them were Dawood’s aides.
Also Read: The man who saved Mumbai in 1993: Why every Indian needs know about Rakesh Maria
Sardar Shahwali Khan was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2007 in the 1993 Mumbai Bomb Blast Case by a TADA Court. In the same row, Mohammed Salim Ishaq Patel was the frontman of Dawood Ibrahim’s sister Hassena Parkar and was arrested along with her in 2007 in connection with a land grabbing case.
Fadnavis alleged, “A prime property of 2.80 acre on L B S Marg in Kurla was bought by Solidus Investment Private Limited for a meagre Rs 30 lakh. The signatory on the deal was Faraz Malik, the son of Nawab Malik. Malik resigned from the company in 2019 after becoming a minister.”
Fadnavis alleged that the market rate of the land was Rs. 8500 per sq. m, the Maliks got it just for Rs 25 per sq. m.
Malik’s Defence on these allegations
NCP leader Nawab Malik denied all the charges and has presented a different story. He said that he had never entered into any deal with anyone from the underworld. Malik said the Kurla land in question held a godown that Solidus had leased from one Munira Patel. “She approached us and said she wanted to sell us the land. We took ownership of the land and got the registration done through one Salim Patel, who had the power of attorney.”
Solidus Investments Private Limited is a company set up in 1973 by the Malik family. Malik’s son Aamir Nawab Malik and wife Mehjbeen Nawab Malik are listed as the firm’s two directors.
Nawab Malik was grilled for eight hours over alleged transactions with Dawood Ibrahim’s associates and land deals with them. After which he was presented before the special PLMA Court that granted his custody to ED till March 3.
Nawab Malik is the second minister who has been dragged under the clutches of ED. The arrest of Nawab Malik is being seen as a step to get hold of the politicians surviving on Underworld links in Maharashtra.