In a major development in a high-profile money laundering case connected to global terrorist Dawood Ibrahim's late sister, Haseena Parkar, a special court in Mumbai on Tuesday officially framed charges against all accused. Among those charged is former state minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik, who was present in the courtroom.
Malik entered a plea of not guilty to the charges leveled against him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). This crucial legal step now paves the way for the formal commencement of the trial, moving the case from the investigation phase to the judicial process.
Court Rejects Discharge Pleas, Cites Evidence of Conspiracy
The path to framing charges was set last week when Special Judge Satyanarayan R Navander rejected the discharge applications filed by some of the accused. In his order, the judge referenced the ED's submissions, stating that it was evident Malik, in connivance with D-Company members Haseena Parkar, Salim Patel, and Sardar Khan, participated in the laundering of a usurped property.
The court explicitly stated that this property constitutes "proceeds of crime" under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Furthermore, the judge noted that rent collected through two firms, M/s Solidus Investments Pvt Ltd and M/s Malik Infrastructure, both controlled by the Malik family, also qualifies as proceeds of crime under the PMLA.
The Allegations and the Property at the Heart of the Case
The Enforcement Directorate has pegged the total value of the proceeds of crime at a staggering Rs 16 crore. The agency alleges that back in 1996, Nawab Malik illegally occupied a property known as "Kurla General Store" located in the Goawala compound in Kurla West.
The ED's case claims that a few years later, after Malik became a state minister, he usurped the entire premises with the help of Haseena Parkar. This money laundering case originates from an FIR filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on February 3, 2022, against Dawood Ibrahim and others under the Indian Penal Code and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
It is alleged that Malik conspired with Parkar, Patel, and Khan—a convict in the 1993 Mumbai blast case—to unlawfully acquire a 3-acre land that originally belonged to Munira Plumber. The acquisition was allegedly executed using forged documents, including a fraudulent power of attorney dated July 23, 1999. This property has since been provisionally attached by the ED.
Legal Standpoint and Upcoming Trial
One of the accused, Malik Infrastructure, had filed a discharge plea arguing that it had entered into a lease agreement with Solidus Investments only in 2010-11 and was not in existence at the time of the alleged illegal act. The special judge, however, deemed these submissions "untenable".
The judge highlighted that Nawab Malik himself, as a partner and the controlling mind of the company, represented Malik Infrastructure. The court observed that the distinction between the two companies, Solidus Investments and Malik Infrastructure, was merely on paper for administrative and taxation purposes, as both were family entities of the primary accused.
The court has directed the framing of charges under Section 3 (offence of money laundering) read with Section 70 (liability of companies) of the PMLA, which is punishable under Section 4 with a maximum sentence of seven years of imprisonment. With the charges now formally framed, the stage is set for a closely watched trial that links a prominent politician to the shadowy network of India's most-wanted fugitive.
