Two weeks back, Mr Malik had hit out at the Centre for trying to topple the state government.
Amid an escalating war of words between Maharashtra's Maha Vikas Agadhi government and the Centre, the state's minister Nawab Malik was taken to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office this morning for questioning. The central probe agency's officials reached the NCP leader's home at 6 am where he was questioned for an hour. He was then brought to the ED office at 7:30 am and is being questioned there since 8:30 am.
Mr Malik has been summoned by the ED in connection with a money laundering case linked to the Mumbai underworld, officials told news agency PTI.
Two weeks back, Mr Malik had hit out at the Centre for trying to topple the state government and said the Nationalist Congress Party, Congress and Shiv Sena will not only continue to govern Maharashtra but will also come to power at the Centre by dislodging the BJP.
"It is their (of the BJP) illusion that we will get scared. No matter how much they try, the (state) government will complete five years. This government will run for 25 years. We will be in power in the state, and we will also attain power at the Centre," Mr Malik had claimed.
The three parties formed the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra following the 2019 assembly polls, after the Shiv Sena snapped ties with long-term ally BJP over the issue of sharing the chief ministerial post.
Mr Malik's comments came following sensational claims by Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut in a letter to Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu alleging that the Enforcement Directorate has been harassing him and his family after he refused to help in toppling the Maharashtra government. He said that the ED and other investigating agency officials "are now reduced to puppets of their political masters" and added that the officials have even admitted that they have been "asked by their 'bosses' to 'fix' me."
Nawab Malik too has been repeatedly attacking central enforcement agencies, accusing them of harassing and intimidating opposition leaders at the behest of the BJP-led union government.
