Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned NCP leader and Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik for questioning in a money laundering case where he is suspected of having been involved in connections with the underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, revolving around a money-laundering scam.
Malik was taken from his residence at 6 AM by probe agency officials who have been questioning him since 8:30 AM.
The move comes amidst a war of words between the Maharashtra Vikas Agadhi and the Centre, a conflict in which Malik has featured prominently. Two weeks back, Mr Malik had hit out at the Centre for trying to topple the state government and said the Nationalist Congress Party, Congress and Shiv Sena will not only continue to govern Maharashtra but will also come to power at the Centre by dislodging the BJP.
Malik's allegations that the ED and central agencies were being used as tools by the BJP to harass the Opposition came after Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut alleged in a letter to the Rajya Sabha that he and his family were facing repeated harassment by the ED after they refused to help "topple" the Maharashtra government.
In his letter, Raut said that the ED and other investigating agency officials "are now reduced to puppets of their hi masters" and added that the officials have even admitted that they have been "asked by their 'bosses' to 'fix' me."
With regards to the current case, the ED has been probing a money laundering case against Dawood Ibrahim, Iqbal Mirchi, Chhota Shakeel, Parkar and Javed Chikna after it found several hawala transactions linked to money illegally obtained through extortion, drug trafficking, sale of real estate in Nagpada and Bhendi Bazaar area of Mumbai, and other unlawful activities.
They had interrogated Dawood Ibrahim's nephew Alishah Parkar and arrested brother Iqbal Kaskar in the case - the first arrest in the politician-underworld nexus case. Kaskar is in the ED's custody till February 24. Earlier, Salim Qureshi, an aide of Chota Shakeel, was interrogated by the team of the centre probe agency.