Dawood’s surrender offer was conditional, rejected it: Sharad Pawar

Mumbai: NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday reiterated that the conditions put forward by Dawood Ibrahim, through advocate Ram Jethmalani, for his surrender in 1995 were unacceptable to the government. Mr Pawar said that one of Dawood’s conditions was that he should not be kept in a jail.

The reaction from the NCP chief came after Mr Jethmalani’s comment that the advocate had met the gangster in London and that he was willing to return to India. This was in turn a reaction to Dawood’s close-aide Chhota Shakeel’s statement to a newspaper that the government turned down Dawood’s proposal to return.

“Yes, Mr Jethmalani had given a proposition regarding the surrender of Dawood Ibrahim. That’s true, but it was conditional. Mr Jethmalani had said that Dawood could not be arrested if he comes to India. You have to arrest a person who has so many cases against him. Everybody needs to follow the law, but he didn’t accept the suggestion,” the former Union minister told a news agency on Saturday.