Farooq remanded in judicial custody

Mumbai: A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court on Thursday sent alleged hawala dealer, Mohammad Farooq, who is an accused of masterminding a money-laundering racket being probed by the Enforcement Directorate, to judicial custody till May 9. The immigration bureau at the Chattrapati Shivaji International Airport intercepted Farooq on Monday evening following ED’s look out circular against him.

On Thursday, Farooq’s lawyer argued before the court that Enforcement Department has no right to take custody of the accused. As per provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code, only the police and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) have right to take custody and the ED is an agency and it can’t obtain Farooq’s custody, he argued. Subsequently, ED officers had shown provisions under PMLA but the court refused to entertain the arguments because the ED had not sought Farooq’s custody for further investigation.

The court then kept the matter for hearing on May 9.