‘Rs 5 lakh, not Rs 55 lakh’: ED says there was typo in previous plea seeking remand of Nawab Malik
The Maharashtra minister’s lawyer asked the Enforcement Directorate to ‘apply its mind’ and do its ‘homework’ properly.
The Enforcement Directorate, while Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik’s remand plea was being heard by a Mumbai court on Thursday, conceded to a “typographical” error in its previous application which led to Rs 5 lakh being written as Rs 55 lakh, reported The Times of India.
Malik, a senior leader of the Nationalist Congress Party, which is part of the ruling coalition in Maharashtra, was arrested by the central agency on February 23 over money laundering allegations.
During the hearing at a special Money Laundering Act court in Mumbai on February 23, Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh alleged that that gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s sister Haseena Parker had acquired a property in the city’s Kurla area and then sold it “illegally” to Malik for about Rs 50 lakh.
Malik had been remanded in the Enforcement Directorate’s custody till March 3. On Thursday, the agency told the court that Rs 5 lakh was paid in cash for “usurped” land in Kurla and not Rs 55 lakh.
Malik’s lawyer Amit Desai said that his client had spent six days in prison over the contention that amount was Rs 55 lakh, reported the Hindustan Times.
Desai told the agency to “apply its mind” and do its “homework” properly. “When you are dealing with the liberty of people, don’t rush to arrest them,” said Desai, according to the Hindustan Times.
Singh, however, said even if the amount was Rs 1 or Rs 55,000, it had to be investigated.
The Enforcement Directorate’s special public prosecutor Hiten Venegaonkar and Singh sought to extend Malik’s custody.
They told the court that Malik had been hospitalised from February 25 to 28 and his statement could not be recorded. The judge, RK Rokade, extended Malik’s custody till March 7.