MUMBAI, Aug. 7 -- 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 Rs.15-crore sale agreement, accepted Rs.99 lakh as token money, and sold scrap material from the site for Rs.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 alleged transactions with two people, Govind Bansal and U Dhani, who 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. According to the FIR registered on Tuesday by the police 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....