Two of four accused in Iqbal Mirchi case get bail

A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court here on Saturday rejected bail pleas of Haroun Yusuf and Humayun Merchant, both arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money-laundering case involving gangster Iqbal Mirchi.

Special PMLA Judge P. Rajvaidya, however, granted bail to two other accused — Ranjeet Bindra, a broker in the deal of Mirchi’s property, and Rinku Deshpande, through whom Mr. Bindra allegedly received his commission.

Earlier, while opposing their bail, the ED said the case was sensitive, involving money generated from organised crime, and its suspected use for terror financing and in the narcotic trade was under investigation, the agency said.

The case appears to have international ramifications as well, the agency had claimed.

The four men were arrested in October under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in connection with the ED’s probe into illegal real estate deals of Mirchi. The ED is probing Mirchi’s purchase of three properties of Sir Mohammad Yusuf Trust in Worli area in the metropolis in September 1986 for ₹6.5 lakh through his Rockside Enterprise.

Mirchi, who died in London in 2013, was an aide of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar.