Dawood's offer to return wasn't genuine: former top cop

Mumbai, Dec 22: Former Mumbai police commissioner M N Singh today rubbished the reported claim by the fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim, one of the prime accused in 1993 Mumbai blasts case, that Indian authorities spurned his offer to return to India and surrender.

Singh was speaking at a function here to launch a novel written by the veteran journalist Sheela Raval.

"Dawood never seriously wanted to surrender when he offered his conditions for surrendering by speaking with the veteran lawyer Ram Jethmalani," Singh said.

"If any person wants to surrender, he wouldn't put the conditions which he had put," said Singh, adding that the gangster only wanted to create a misleading picture that he wanted to return to India but the concerned authorities stopped him.

"Dawood is a gangster, but by definition he became a terrorist. He is a genius, who, despite being born in a dingy area of Dongri (in Mumbai), being uneducated and a son of a city police constable, is tagged as the 57th most powerful man on the earth who has accumulated around USD 6.7 billion by his illegitimate activities," the former IPS officer said.

Considering this, "Dawood could have returned back to the city, faced trial and led the life of a respected and rich businessman by converting all his illegitimate money into legitimate businesses here. Such things happen in other foreign countries," said Singh, speaking with the media after the book launch.

PTI