The Supreme Court has refused to grant bail to Maharashtra Chief Minister Nawab in an illegal money transfer case.
Nawab Malik, a Maharashtra minister and senior leader of the Nationalist Congress Party, was arrested by the Enforcement Department last February for allegedly embezzling money along with associates of shadow world Dada Dawood Ibrahim. Nawab Malik had filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking bail in the case, which came up for hearing before a bench headed by Supreme Court Judge Chandrasooty today.
Kapil Sibal, a senior lawyer representing Nawab Malik, argued that he had been arrested years later in the case, which could be traced back to 1999, and that it was a politically motivated case and should therefore be granted bail. The judges rejected his plea, saying it would not be appropriate to grant bail for the time being as the case is currently at an early stage. Nawab Malik can also file a petition seeking bail in the regular lower courts if required.