No bail for ex-Dubai banker in narco-terror funding case

Mumbai: Observing that there is prima facie evidence about his complicity in the crime, a special court rejected the bail plea of Andheri resident Parvez Memon (47), a former Dubai banker, arrested by the state Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) seven months ago on charges of dealing, in drugs like MDMA, ketamine and LSD, to fund terror activities in the country. Among the accused named in the case by the ATS is fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s brother Anees.
The court on Saturday said that the “malafideness” on Memon’s part was seen from the fact that though he grew up in Mumbai, for passport renewal, he had given his Kerala address, which was of an open plot as the structure on it was demolished in 2013. “…the transactions made by the accused to different persons transmitting the amounts appear to be suspicious. There appears connectivity of accused with the prosecution witnesses who are engaged in illegal activities...accused has made monetary transactions with them,” the court said, adding that the documents on record demonstrate that there are criminal antecedents against Memon.
The ATS had got a tipoff that associates of the Dawood gang, with the help of Anees and others, were financing illegal activities and illegal organizations involved in such activities. Memon was arrested on August 3, 2022. The court said the drug seized from co-accused Faiz Bhiwandiwala, arrested on August 9, 2022, was found to be ganja. The chargesheet was filed on January 28 and the duo was booked under the stringent UAPA and NDPS Act.
Memon’s defence lawyer submitted that only on the basis of alleged WhatsApp chats, drug-related charges have been levelled against him. It was also argued that the quantity of drugs alleged to have been seized from Bhiwandiwala was not commercial quantity as defined under the NDPS Act, therefore there is no bar for grant of bail, and there’s no evidence in respect of generating money for any illegal organization for terrorist activities.
The lawyer said Memon worked as a banker in Dubai between December 2005 and March 2016. It was submitted that at the time of arrest, he was in the business of event management, ran an NGO for cancer patients and owned a scrap trading establishment.
But the court referred to several statements of witnesses. One witness said Memon gave him Rs 75 lakh without any security and also sent him photographs of crystal ketamine through electronic media and asked him to procure customers for selling the contraband. Another witness claimed that both accused used to arrange drug parties, besides selling them. Another witness, a childhood friend, alleged that Memon was a Dawood gang member.