Maharashtra cabinet minister and senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik’s judicial custody was on Monday extended till April 4.
Malik has been behind the bars in an alleged money laundering case involving fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim. The 62-year-old NCP leader Malik was arrested late February by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The court allowed the minister, whose custody was set to expire during the day, to be provided with a bed, mattress, and chair during his judicial custody.
Malik held ministries of skills development and minority affairs in the state government, led by Shiv Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray. He is also the guardian minister of the Parbhani and the Gondia districts.
The Sharad Pawar-led NCP has decided to distribute the portfolios held by Malik to other ministers of the party, according to senior leaders in the party.
The NCP has, however, decided not to ask Malik to tender his resignation as demanded by the opposition BJP.
