Maharashtra cabinet minister and senior NCP leader Nawab Malik has approached the Supreme Court seeking his immediate release in a money laundering case.
Mr Malik is in judicial custody till April 4. He claimed that his arrest was illegal. His petition was rejected by the Bombay High Court.
He was arrested on February 23 during the investigation of an FIR registered against terrorist Dawood Ibrahim. Hasina Parkar, sister of Minority Development Minister Ibrahim, is an accused in the terror funding case related to a land deal.
The HC refused to entertain his plea for release on the ground of illegal arrest, saying the Enforcement Directorate had followed due process.
Mr Malik claimed that the High Court’s refusal to grant him interim release was in violation of the position laid down by the Supreme Court in the Arnab Goswami case that courts should be the protectors of personal liberty.