The Supreme Court on Friday declined to consider a plea by Maharashtra Minority Affairs Minister Nawab Malik challenging his arrest under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
"The matter is at a nascent stage. You may approach the special court for the bail," a bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Surya Kant told senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Malik.
Sibal contended Malik has been arrested in 2022 for something that had happened in 1999.
"We will not interfere at this stage. We should be careful when the matter is at an initial stage," the bench said, adding the issue of bail can be taken up by a special court. "All your arguments can be considered by the Special court," the bench said.
Sibal, however, insisted the Special Judge would not consider the issue of retrospective application of the money laundering law in the case.
The court, however, dismissed Malik's petition against the Bombay High Court judgement, which declined to entertain his plea that his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate was illegal.
Malik has been in custody since February 23.
The ED had submitted over 5,000-page complaint (charge sheet) against NCP leader and Minority Affairs Minister Malik in the special court at Mumbai. It accused Malik of involvement in terror funding, in view of land dealings with designated terrorist Dawood Ibrahim's late sister Haseena Parkar during 1999-2005.
Check out the latest videos from DH:
(Published 22 April 2022, 06:10 IST)
JOIN US