Fadnavis, Nawab Malik Trade Charges of “Underworld Connections” against Each Other
Manas Dasgupta
MUMBAI, Nov 9: The leader of the opposition and the former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday accused the Nationalist Congress Party minister Nawab Malik of having “underworld links” from whom he bought some prime property in Mumbai at a throwaway price. The accusation was promptly denied by the minister who in turn threatened to “drop a hydrogen bomb” on Wednesday “exposing” the former chief minister’s connections with the underworld.
Addressing the media at the BJP state headquarter, Fadnavis connected the minister in the present Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government headed by Udhhav Thackeray with those who made Mumbai bleed in 1993 with the series of bomb blasts plotted by the underworld don Dawood Ibrahim from Pakistan. Claiming that he possessed documentary proofs of Malik’s illegal land deals, the former chief minister said he would hand over the evidences to the central agencies for investigations and to the NCP chief Sharad Pawar for necessary political actions against his party leader.
Fadnavis alleged that Nawab Malik had struck a property deal with 1993 Mumbai bomb blast convict Sardar Shahwali Khan and Mohd Salim Ishaq Patel, who was the frontman of Haseena Parkar, Dawood Ibrahim’s sister. “A prime property of 2.80 acres called Goawala compound on posh LBS Marg in Kurla was brought by Solidus Investment Private Limited for a meager Rs 30 lakh. The signatory of the deal transacted was Faraz Malik, son of Nawab Malik.” Nawab Malik held a high post in the company but had resigned before taking charge of the ministerial post in the state government in 2019. Malik’s wife, Mehjabeen Nawab Malik, and son, Aamir Malik, are the directors of the company,” Fadnavis claimed.
“My question is when this deal happened you were a minister. Did you not know who Salim Patel is? Why did you buy land from convicts? And why did they sell a three-acre plot on LBS road for ₹ 30 lakh,” he asked.
The NCP minister on his part promptly refuted these allegations claiming that all transactions were done legally.
According to Fadnavis, after the property deal and registration, the Maliks paid Rs 15 lakh to Sardar Shahwali Ali Khan and Rs 5 lakh to Mohd Salim Patel, both 1993 Mumbai bomb blast accused. He said although the deal was for Rs 30 lakh, the actual payment transacted was only Rs 20 lakh which substantiated that it was a shady deal, he claimed.
Fadnavis alleged the property whose market rate was Rs 8,500 per square meter was purchased by Maliks for as little as Rs 25 per square meter. Both Sardar Shahawali Khan and Salim Patel, with whom Maliks dealt property, have underworld connections, Fadnavis stated.
“Sardar Shahawali Khan is a 1993 Mumbai Bomb blast convict. He is in jail, serving life imprisonment. He was a part of the team which was given firearm training by the mastermind Tiger Memon. Khan also did the recee of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to decide where the bombs should be placed. Khan was present at the meeting held in Tiger Memon’s residence to plot the bomb blast,” Fadnavis claimed.
The BJP leader added, “Patel was the frontman and bodyguard of Haseena Parkar alias Appa. Parkar is the sister of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. Patel was given the power of attorney. He dealt with all land grabbing and property deals for Parkar. She was carrying out the activities on behalf of Dawood who was operating from Pakistan.”
“The big question here is why did Nawab Malik and his family purchase land from dreaded underworld criminals. What was the real motive behind the deal?” Fadnavis questioned. The former chief minister added, “Sardar Shahawali Khan was slapped with TADA. Under this act, all the properties (of the accused) are seized by the government. Therefore, the question is, was Malik trying to help these underworld convicts by showing a deal so that they don’t lose the property? Or was the deal shown on paper a formality and a huge black money transaction was done without any record?”
Salim Patel is gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s aide and was the driver of Haseena Parkar. After Dawood escaped, the properties were acquired by Haseena Parkar through Salim Patel. Dawood Ibrahim is the mastermind behind the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts. “This is a direct link to the underworld. Those who brought RDX, those who conspired to carry out the blasts, you are doing business with them? I will send all this to competent authorities and also send it to Sharad Pawar so that he knows what his Minister has done,” said Fadnavis.
Fadnavis also claimed that the Kurla land deal was just one among five such deals, which took place between 2003 and 2019. However, he said, the details on the other four property deals between Malik and the “underworld” would be submitted to appropriate investigating agencies.
“I will furnish all the documents and details to the appropriate agencies including CBI, ED, IT and police,” the former chief minister said. A set of documents will be provided to NCP president Sharad Pawar, he said.
Refuting the allegations, the NCP minister told the media persons, “I have not bought the said property from any person connected with the underworld. I have brought the property from the original owners.”
“There was a watchman of the erstwhile owners named Khan who had managed to create rights on a 300-sq-m plot. I paid money to get these rights surrendered and ensure that he vacated that plot. Everything was done in a legal way and I have all necessary papers to prove this transaction,” Nawab Malik said.
The opposition leader denied any political vendetta, stating that he had “no personal enmity with Malik or his family.” However, he added that Malik, who holds press conferences daily, has been mischievously targeting BJP and its leaders to malign their image. “I have provided bare facts. There is no question of hitting at NCP or individual leaders,” he said. “However, whatever information has come to us about Malik and the underworld is a cause of serious concern,” Fadnavis added.
Claiming Fadnavis’ allegations as “baseless” and that he did not know Haseena Parkar or her front men, Malik later said he would expose the former chief minister’s underworld connections on Wednesday. “I will drop a hydrogen bomb tomorrow in connection with Fadnavis. I will expose his underworld links,” he said. “Fadnavis is trying to malign my image by connecting me to blast convicts and the underworld. I have no relations with the underworld and never purchased any land from blast convicts. I don’t know Haseena Parkar. Salim Patel had the power of attorney of Goawala family. I did not know Patel was connected to the underworld. Sardar Khan had an ownership of the 300m plot. We paid to surrender the rights to it,” Malik said.
“We were tenants of a plot, whose owner wanted to sell it. We carried out the transaction with the person who had the power of attorney on behalf of the owner… Sardar Wali Khan was the owner of the 300m plot. He still has his house in the Goawala compound. His father worked as a watchman in the compound. We paid to remove his name from the plot,” he added.
Responding to Fadnavis’ allegation that Malik bought land at throwaway prices, the minister said, “Whatever sum was sought by the owner was given. The watchman had created paperwork for ownership on a 300m plot. Money was paid for that.”
Nawab Malik had earlier alleged that Fadnavis had appeared in a music video financed by a drug peddler who is currently in jail. It is “laughable”, was Fadnavis’ response at the time.
The BJP leader had alleged that Malik was just trying to put pressure on the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) to get the anti-drugs agency to weaken the charge sheet against his son-in-law. Malik’s son-in-law Sameer Khan was arrested by the NCB earlier this year in a drugs case and was later granted bail by a court. The Minister had recently made several sensational claims against the BJP alleging it colluded to expand the drugs business in the state.
