Maharashtra Ex-Minister Nawab Malik Gets 2-Month Interim Bail From Supreme Court

SC granted two-month interim bail to former Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik on medical grounds

Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik. (File Photo)

Supreme Court grants bail to former Maharashtra minister and Nationalist Congress Party leader Nawab Malik for two months on medical grounds in money laundering case, news agency PTI reported.

The bail order was granted on medical reasons, not on merits, according to a panel of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi, Bar and Bench reported.

Money laundering case: SC grants two-month interim bail to former Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik on medical grounds

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 11, 2023

"He is in hospital for kidney disease and ailments. Let counter affidavit be filed to the main petition within 5 weeks and rejoinder and thereafter in 3 weeks. List after 10 weeks. Bail granted. We are passing the order strictly on medical conditions and have not entered merits," the order was quoted by Bar and Bench in its report. 

The ruling was issued in response to a petition filed by Malik against a Bombay High Court order dismissing the interim medical bail petition.

The ED arrested Malik on suspicion of paying less than market value for certain property.

Malik petitioned for ordinary bail after a special PMLA court took cognizance of the chargesheet in May 2022.

Malik had petitioned the High Court after a Mumbai special court denied his bail application in the case on November 30, 2022.

Malik claimed in his High Court petition, filed via Rashmikant & Partners, that the Special Court ignored the High Court's remarks in its judgement giving bail to former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.

The High Court initially heard Malik's bail petition on medical grounds and reserved the petition on that narrow basis. 

It then denied the request for medical bail, resulting in the current appeal before the Supreme Court.