New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday deferred to July a plea by jailed senior NCP leader and former Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik seeking relief in a money laundering case, reports said. Malik is currently in the custody of Enforcement Directorate in the alleged money laundering case and had approached the apex court after the Maharashtra High Court had adjourned his plea till June 6 while citing the non-availability of Additional Solicitor General (ASG) in the court.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and MM Sundresh while hearing Malik's plea said the HC cannot be bypassed in the case, deferred the hearing in the case to July, reports said. The apex court however said that the high court was at liberty to take up the case for hearing during this period. The senior NCP leader was arrested in Feb. this year under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with property transactions allegedly linked to fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his aides.
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It can be recalled that the Bombay High Court had on Feb. 24 this year accepted a plea by Nawab Malik saying that the health condition of Nationalist Congress Party leader was serious and agreed to hear his bail application. Following his arrest in the money laundering case by the ED, Malik had approached the High Court seeking bail on medical grounds.
In his plea, the senior NCP leader further said that he had been in prison for over a year and has already lost a kidney and the other kidney is functioning “weakly”. Malik while seeking relief on medical grounds, referred to the exception under Section 45 of the PMLA which has the provision of relief to accused, who is under 16 years of age or is a woman or is sick or infirm.
A special court designated to hear the PMLA cases had in May 2022, refused to grant him bail on medical grounds, but permitted him to get admitted to a private hospital for treatment. In Jan. this year, a special PMLA court had directed the state-run JJ Hospital to constitute a Medical Board to examine the health of NCP leader and former minister Nawab Malik.
