New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to former Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik for two months on medical condition in a money laundering case. A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi said that bail is being granted to Nawab only on medical grounds and not on merits. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the probe agency said he has no objection to the bail on medical grounds. The bench in its order said, “The petitioner is at present in hospital, Mumbai, being treated for ailments related to the kidney and other ailments. Let him be released on medical bail for two months. Let a counter affidavit be filed to the main petition within five weeks and a rejoinder thereafter in three weeks. List after 10 weeks. Bail granted. We are passing the order strictly on medical conditions and have not entered merits.” The order of the top court came on a plea filed by Malik against a Bombay High Court order which rejected the temporary medical bail plea. The High Court had declined the petition of the jailed leader seeking bail on medical grounds. Malik, while seeking bail on health grounds had claimed he was suffering from a chronic kidney disease apart from various other ailments. The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) arrested Malik in February 2022 alleging that he usurped a property in Kurla with the help of Dawood Ibrahim's late sister Haseena Parkar between 1999-2006. ED alleged that since Parker handled Dawood’s illegal businesses, the money was ultimately used for terror funding.
