MUMBAI: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and former Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik who was until now in judicial custody and currently undergoing treatment in a private hospital in Mumbai was granted interim bail by the Supreme Court for two months on medical grounds. Three months after his arrest he was admitted to Criticare Hospital in Kurla for chronic kidney disease.

Malik was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on 23 February last year on alleged links to fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim in a money laundering case registered over the Goawala compound property in Kurla.

His bail pleas have been rejected and subsequently, his application for medical bail was also rejected by the Bombay High Court in July 2023, during which it said that he was being provided with required medical aid at a private hospital of his choice, monitored by specialist medical practitioners.

However with the party now split into two factions, and both sides extending their wishes on his release, the question in Maharasthra's political circles is, once out, which side will he owe his allegiance to? 

On one side is his mentor and NCP patriarch, party supremo Sharad Pawar and on the other side is his nephew Ajit Pawar who rebelled against his uncle and joined the Eknath Shinde government on July 2 and was sworn in as the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra alongside Devendra Fadnavis of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from 2 July 2023.

Both, the NCP under Sharad Pawar and its ally in Maharashtra including the Congress party welcomed the bail granted to Malik. NCP's Lok sabha MP Supriya Sule who is also the daughter of Sharad Pawar thanked the Supreme Court for granting interim bail for two months saying that it was now crystal clear that he (Malik) is innocent and was kept in jail solely for political reasons. "We believe in the judiciary and he will soon be declared innocent," she said.

On the other hand senior leader of Ajit Pawar, Rajya Sabha MP Praful Patel also welcomed the bail, he wrote in a Tweet, "I’m glad to hear that our senior NCP Leader Shri Nawab Malik ji has been granted temporary medical bail. I hope this provides him the necessary time to address his health concerns."

Mumbai party chief, Narendra Rane, who is from the Ajit Pawar group also said that since Malik always shared a very rapport and maintained a good relationship with him, we are confident he will support him, although he added that, Malik would decide once he comes out.