MUMBAI: A metropolitan magistrate court on Wednesday remanded businessman Abdul Kader Ali Mohammad, arrested for allegedly encroaching upon and demolishing a defunct cinema hall seized by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money-laundering investigation against the late drug trafficker Iqbal Mirchi, to two days’ police custody.
The VP Road police station had sought three days’ custody, stating that Kader had illegally claimed ownership of the defunct New Roshan Talkies in Khetwadi, demolished it despite knowing it was a seized property, executed a ₹15-crore sale agreement, accepted ₹99 lakh as token money, and sold scrap material from the site for ₹5 lakh—all without supporting documents.
However, the court granted the police Kader’s custody till Friday, observing that two days would suffice for them to conduct a preliminary custodial interrogation and verify the transactions and ownership claims.
In their remand application, the police said that Kader’s custodial interrogation was required to investigate his financial dealings, including the alleged ₹15-crore transaction with a certain Govind Bansal, and to trace the ₹5 lakh received from a certain U Dhani for scrap sold from the demolished site. The police added that both people would need to be summoned and their statements verified.
The police also told the court that Kader had not responded to the ED’s summons and may destroy evidence or influence others if not kept in custody. They said the accused had carried out the demolition in October 2024 by bringing in labourers without any municipal permission, despite being informed by the ED about the property’s attachment. The agency had attached the defunct cinema hall in 2020 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
According to the FIR registered on Tuesday by the VP Road police station based on a complaint by ED deputy director Amitabh Mishra, the cinema hall had been attached as part of assets linked to Mirchi’s alleged money laundering operations. The ED had moved to take physical possession of the property in December 2024, only to discover that it had been razed.
The ED has stated that Kader was never the rightful owner of the cinema hall, and that the demolition was done “in collusion with unknown persons” despite his being informed of the attachment. The agency believes Kader unilaterally executed a transfer deed in his name in July 2023 and falsely projected ownership.
In court, Kader’s advocate Mithilesh Mishra opposed the remand, alleging procedural lapses and unlawful detention. He pointed out that the matter is pending before a special court for cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. He also claimed that his client is a “highly diabetic law-abiding resident of Mumbai” and that the said property has been in his “possession since 1982”.
The ED’s broader investigation pertains to Iqbal Mirchi’s acquisition of several properties through alleged benami transactions and proxies, including Mukhtar Patka and Iqbal Qureshi. The total value of attached assets in the case stands at ₹978.87 crore. After Mirchi’s death in 2013, several properties, including New Roshan Talkies, were allegedly transferred to his wife and sons via gift deeds.