The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday put Maharashtra minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik under arrest.
ED officials took Malik to a government hospital for medical check up and produced him before the special PMLA court. Senior counsel Amit Desai and Taraq Sayed argued for Malik.
The minister said ED officials came to his residence and forcibly took him to their ED office. “Later, they handed me the summons and told me I am arrested,” Malik told the court from the witness box.
The NCP leader, who was arrested after seven hours of questioning, said while being taken to the hospital following his arrest that he would not bow down and expose everyone. “Jhukenge nahi, darenge nahi, expose karenge (we will not bow down, won’t fear, will expose all),” Malik said.
Soon after, he also shared a tweet making a similar statement.
News agency, quoting sources, said the veteran NCP leader was not cooperating during interrogation.
Meanwhile, NCP workers gathered outside the Enforcement Directorate office and started raising slogans in support of Malik.
The 62-year-old Maharashtra minister was being questioned in a money laundering probe linked to the activities of the Mumbai underworld, fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his aides, officials said. He had reached the ED’s south Mumbai office in the Ballard Estate area around 8am and was being grilled since then.
Earlier, NCP MP Supriya Sule said Maharashtra had never bowed down before the Centre and it would never do the same and that the ruling camp in the state was not surprised by the central agencies actions. The Lok Sabha member said it was unfortunate that the Centre was using its machinery against the BJP’s political rivals in a “suppressive” manner.
This is the second arrest of a top minister in the alliance government of the NCP, Shiv Sena and Congress in Maharashtra after Anil Deshmukh. Deshmukh, another leader of the Sharad Pawar-led party, is currently out on bail after spending days behind the bars over charges of extortion and money laundering.
Complete News Source : Hindustan Times
