A special court in Mumbai on Wednesday refused bail to former Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik in a money laundering case involving fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his aides, reported PTI.

The Enforcement Directorate arrested the Nationalist Congress Party leader on February 23. Special Judge RN Rokade rejected his plea on Wednesday.

On November 14, the court had reserved the order in the case after hearing the arguments from both the sides.

Rokade was initially supposed to pass the order on November 23, but the court said that it had to go through large amounts of submissions in the case, reported The Indian Express.

Malik is in judicial custody and has been in a private hospital in Mumbai since May. The former state Cabinet minister had mentioned in his bail plea that there is no predicate offence against him to prosecute him for money laundering, reported PTI.

The Enforcement Directorate, however, opposed the bail stating that a case registered by the National Investigation Agency against Dawood Ibrahim, his sister Haseena Parkar and their associates is considered a predicate offence.