Hours after being arrested, Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik was sent to Enforcement Directorate's custody till March 3. Malik was reportedly allowed to get home food and take his medicines for his stay in ED's custody. Malik was remanded to the central probe agency's custody by a special PMLA court on February 23.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi ruling coalition in Maharashtra announced a mega protest on February 24, against the arrest of Cabinet member Nawab Malik. State ministers will reportedly participate in the demonstration at Mahatma Gandhi Smarak, against the ED and central government. The ruling alliance claimed that Malik was being hounded for targeting the Narendra Modi administration.
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Maharashtra Opposition party BJP to hold a counter-protest across the state on February 24. The BJP is demanding Nawab Malik's resignation following allegations of being involved in deals connected to fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim. The state government has rejected calls for Malik's ouster.
Sharad Pawar, the chief of the Nationalist Congress Party, to which Nawab Malik belongs, reportedly discussed the situation with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The two had a 10-minute phone conversation in which Pawar asked the Trinamool Congress chief how she handled the situation when the CBI investigated Bengal ministers in connection with the Narada case, as per sources quoted in an NDTV report. Banerjee reportedly advised Pawar not to expel Malik from the government.