BJP vs NCP tussle continues: Devendra Fadnavis alleges Nawab Malik has underworld links

Maharashtra’s Leader of Opposition and senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis accused state's Minority Affairs Minister and NCP chief spokesperson Nawab Malik of purchasing a piece of land in Kurla from people linked to Pakistan-based underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.

Fadnavis, a former chief minister, named Sardar Shah Wali Khan and Mohammad Salim Ishaq Patel alias Salim Patel - both linked to the syndicate controlled by Pakistan-based don Dawood Ibrahim, the mastermind of the 12 March, 1993 serial blasts case, to be having links with Nawab Malik.

Fadnavis said that he would be submitting documents to appropriate competent authorities and demanded a probe into it.

Denying the charges, Malik said that he was originally a tenant of that place and his family purchased it in 2005.

Sardar Khan was a trusted man of Tiger Memon, the close aide of Dawood Ibrahim, and had been convicted and sentenced by a special TADA Court to life imprisonment, which was confirmed by the Supreme Court in 2013.

Salim Patel was the frontman, bodyguard, and driver of Hasina Parkar, the late sister of Dawood Ibrahim, who carried out the land deals on behalf of her brother.

“Solidus Investment Pvt Ltd is Nawab Malik’s company and land was purchased from these underworld criminals. Nearly 3 acre land at LBS Road in Kurla was purchased only for Rs 20 lakh as against the original value of Rs 3 crore,” Fadnavis said and shared the documents related to the land deals.

The land was bought by the Malik family-linked SIPL and signed by his son Faraz Malik, he said.

“Why do you do business with underworld people…why do you do business with killers of Mumbai…how did he get the land at a throwaway price?,” Fadnavis said referring to the serial blasts in which 257 people were killed and 713 persons were injured besides damage to property worth Rs 27 crore.

"This is not Salim-Javed story…this is not a post-interval film, but a very serious matter of national importance,” he said.

"There is a direct connection with the underworld. I have documents of five property deals. Four of the property purchases were connected with the underworld. I will ascertain which appropriate authorities, whether it is police, ED, NIA, and hand it over to them," Fadnavis said.

In his defence, Malik said that he brought it from the owner whose power of attorney was Salim Patel.

“Besides, we also bought the rights from a watchman, who entered his name wrongfully in the land records and is the father of Sardar Khan,” he said.

“The deal in question was getting ownership rights as we were the tenants of a landlady of the Goawala Compound who had vested her Power of Attorney to Salim Patel. A building, Madinatul Aman CHS, with over 125 tenants has stood there since 1984 and on the adjoining plot, there are slums. So how is Fadnavis saying we created fake tenants to grab the plot at throwaway rates,” Malik asked.

“Sardar Shah Wali Khan was a convict in the March 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts, but we had no deal with him. As for Salim Patel’s alleged links with Dawood Ibrahim or Hasina Parkar, for us he was the holder of the landlady's Power of Attorney. Where is the question of purchasing the land from the underworld?,” Malik declared.

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