'JC at Home': Curious Case of Mumbai Hawala Dealer Who Has Been in 'Home' Judicial Custody for 4 years

Mohammed Farooque Shaikh, an alleged hawala operator from Mumbai, has been in judicial custody (JC) since 2019, but at home.

The strange case came to light after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sent a letter to the Enforcement Directorate, highlighting the strange circumstances and requesting the ED to knock on the doors of the Supreme Court.

Accused of laundering around Rs 2,252 crore, Shaikh was arrested by the ED in April 2018. He was denied bail by the Bombay High Court (HC) in August 2018 and sent to judicial custody.

Here comes the twist.

Shaikh appealed to the HC that he be allowed to stay with his wife and three children, as she was unwell and there was no one else to take care of her and the kids, aged 11, 10 and 2.

Permitting the plea, the HC said, “We have considered the (medical) certificate produced on record and we are satisfied that the wife of the petitioner needs immediate attention. We deem it appropriate to permit the petitioner to attend to his wife either in the hospital or at home.”

The court directed that minimum two policemen be deputed by the Superintendent of the Taloja Central Prison to accompany Shaikh. “The petitioner would continue to be in their custody till 18th June, 2019,” the HC ordered.

The liberty was subsequently extended twice — till June 25, 2019 and then till July 2, 2019.

THE SC ORDER

Shaikh then moved the Supreme Court challenging the HC’s direction that he be admitted to the Taloja Central Prison on July 3, 2019 before 3pm.

The SC on July 3 issued a one-line order saying that the HC court order allowing Shaikh to stay with his wife would continue “till further orders”.

This order has been effectively used by Shaikh’s legal team to keep him out of jail and even deny the CBI a chance to question him in custody.

The CBI is also probing cases against Shaikh and his wife, in which they are accused of misusing KYC documents of the poor in Mumbai to open false accounts and channel hawala money from Hong Kong. The CBI’s request for a warrant against Shaikh to allow the agency to question him was rejected in February 2022 as his legal team cited the SC order of July 2019.

‘ILL’ WIFE ARRESTED

His wife, whose illness was the reason for Shaikh to be home, was arrested by the CBI on May 24, 2022. The agency claims that during her medical examination in the CBI custody, medical officers “on four occasions, found her to be fit”.

The CBI has now written to the ED to seek intervention of the SC so that the interim relief given to Shaikh is vacated.

When News18 spoke to Shaikh’s legal team, they said the “matter was sub-judice and hence can’t be commented upon”.

Defence lawyers, however, pointed out that courts have passed the order after considering all documents put out by the agencies and defence. “It was not an ex-parte order. It was passed under section 142. Illness of the wife was verified, she was unwell. I don’t know about the situation now. We had asked for bail. The court denied it, but balanced his case. The agencies can say anything now, but why didn’t they object when order was passed,” a lawyer, who was part of Shaikh’s team, asked.

The CBI, meanwhile, is looking at the ED application in the SC closely, as their investigation against Shaikh depends on the end of this “JC at home”.

With Inputs from Yesha Kotak

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