Dawood Ibrahim is the mastermind of the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts
Mumbai:
Raj Thackeray dropped a bombshell today as he claimed that India's most wanted Dawood Ibrahim is trying to negotiate his return with the government as he wants to spend his last days in his home country, but all that the ruling BJP wants is a big terror catch to score in elections.
"Dawood is now physically handicapped. Hence, he is keen on returning to India and he has been negotiating with the Union government as well. The government will bring him back just before the general elections and try to seek credit for it...I am not joking but it is the truth that you will realise later," said the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief at a function to mark his Facebook debut.
"Once he is ready to return to India, the Narendra Modi government will blow its own trumpet over it...It will be a political move of the BJP," said Mr Thackeray, taking several digs at the ruling party.
Last week, reacting to reporters' questions on the news that Dawood Ibrahim's properties in the UK have been seized, union minister VK Singh had commented cryptically that "things are happening".
"We will not talk about Dawood at all. Certain things are happening. We can't let the cat be let out of the bag," Mr Singh, the Minister of State for External Affairs, had told reporters in Kerala.
Dawood Ibrahim is the mastermind of the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts in which 257 were killed. India says there is proof the man it has hunted for over two decades has been living in Pakistan's Karachi, which has been confirmed by the UN. In more validation of New Delhi's stand, Britain's list of Financial Sanctions Targets refers to the gangster's three recorded addresses in Karachi.
"Dawood is now physically handicapped. Hence, he is keen on returning to India and he has been negotiating with the Union government as well. The government will bring him back just before the general elections and try to seek credit for it...I am not joking but it is the truth that you will realise later," said the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief at a function to mark his Facebook debut.
"Once he is ready to return to India, the Narendra Modi government will blow its own trumpet over it...It will be a political move of the BJP," said Mr Thackeray, taking several digs at the ruling party.
Last week, reacting to reporters' questions on the news that Dawood Ibrahim's properties in the UK have been seized, union minister VK Singh had commented cryptically that "things are happening".
"We will not talk about Dawood at all. Certain things are happening. We can't let the cat be let out of the bag," Mr Singh, the Minister of State for External Affairs, had told reporters in Kerala.
Dawood Ibrahim is the mastermind of the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts in which 257 were killed. India says there is proof the man it has hunted for over two decades has been living in Pakistan's Karachi, which has been confirmed by the UN. In more validation of New Delhi's stand, Britain's list of Financial Sanctions Targets refers to the gangster's three recorded addresses in Karachi.
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