Maharashtra / Nawab Malik did business with 1993 Mumbai blast convicts: Fadnavis

Mumbai: Leader of opposition Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday accused Maharashtra cabinet minister Nawab Malik and his family of purchasing a 2.80 acre plot from Mohammad Salim Patel, a "front man" of Dawood Ibrahim's sister Haseena Parker, and from Badshah Khan, a 1993 blast convict, in 2005.

Addressing a press conference, the former chief minister said he had documents of five such property deals and would hand over the same to the appropriate authorities. He would also submit the documents to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar to let him know what his party functionaries were indulging in.

"There is a direct connection with the underworld. I have documents of five property deals. Four properties purchased connected with the underworld. I will ascertain which appropriate authorities, whether it is police, ED, NIA, and hand it over to them," Fadnavis said.

“Malik did business with people involved in blasts that shook Mumbai. He purchased land from convicts of the case at rates cheaper than market prices. Was this deal to save prime land from being forfeited under TADA law?" the BJP leader said.

Fadnavis said a prime plot on LBS Road in Kurla was bought at a meagre sum of ₹30 lakh when the market rate was ₹2,053 per square feet in 2005 in the vicinity. "The deal was carried out when Malik was a minister in the previous Congress-NCP government,” he added.

The BJP leader's allegations against the minister came in the wake of a series of controversies following the arrest of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan in a drugs bust case aboard a Goa-bound cruise last month. 

Malik has accused the Narcotics Control Bureau's (NCB) zonal director Sameer Wankhede of partnering with some BJP leaders in an extortion attempt in the case, besides levelling other charges. Allegations and counter-allegations have followed since then.