India’s most-wanted terrorist Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar reportedly wants to “return” to India but with certain preconditions.
A well-known criminal lawyer Shyam Keswani on Tuesday said fugitive Dawood is “keen to return to India” but the conditions are not acceptable to the Indian government.
Keswani was talking to media outside the Thane Court, where he represented Iqbal Ibrahim Kaskar (the absconder don’s brother) in an extortion case.
The lawyer said among the conditions Dawood has stipulated are that he should be lodged only in the high-secure precincts of Arthur Road Central Jail (ARCJ) in Mumbai.
“He had also conveyed his intentions through (former union minister and eminent lawyer) Ram Jethmalani a few years ago but the Indian government has not entertained any of his preconditions to return,” Keswani said.
Keswani’s statement on Dawood’s desire to return came more than six months after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena President Raj Thackeray made a similar revelation in Mumbai.
In his explosive remarks, Thackeray had claimed that not only was Dawood keen to come back but he was reportedly negotiating a ‘settlement’ with the Modi government.
The MNS chief had further said Dawood was very sick and wanted to breathe his last in India.
As per DNA news reports, Dawood is allegedly suffering from bouts of depression after his third child — and only son – Moin Nawaz D Kaskar, 31, chose to become a ‘maulana’, or a cleric-cum-religious teacher.
More so, Dawood’s other brother Anees Ibrahim Kaskar is now ageing and reportedly not in robust health, other brothers are deceased and no reliable close relatives available to take over the reins of the empire.
Land-grab and extortion case
In a related development, Iqbal was sent to police custody till Friday by a Special Court here on Tuesday in a land-grab and extortion case filed against him by the Thane Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC).
At least two others wanted in this case — Bhavar Kothar and Bharat Jain — are absconding, said AEC chief Pradeep Sharma.
The case pertains to alleged extortion of Rs. 3 crore from a builder in a deal involving a 38-acre plot of land worth crores of rupees in Gorai, a coastal village in south-west Thane.
‘Iqbal’s plea for homemade food rejected’
Earlier, a special MCOCA court here rejected the plea of Iqbal Kaskar, arrested in an extortion case, to allow him to have homemade food in jail due to his various ailments.
Special Judge (MCOCA) AS Bhaisare observed that Kaskar’s doctor has not prescribed any special diet to him, therefore, his application was liable to be rejected.
He said Kaskar, presently lodged in the Thane District Central Jail, had not made any special ground to grant his application.
“One cannot act as per his own wish and choice or desire,” the judge said in a recent order.
Kaskar, in his application, had requested the court to allow him to have the facility of homemade food in judicial custody on the ground that he was suffering from diabetes, blood pressure and giddiness, and undergoing treatment.
He said he was required to have home-cooked food to maintain better health.