London:
Iqbal Mirchi, the brother of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, was arrested in London and was yesterday remanded to judicial custody by a British court till October 20. The British police have charged him with threatening to kill his associate, Nadeem Kader who they say called off the marriage between his daughter and Mirchi's son.
"Prosecution allegations are false. The charge that he is involved in murder is nothing short of disgraceful," Mirchi's lawyer Michael Coult said.
Mirchi was arrested from this six bedroom mansion where he has been living for more than 20 years now. The Scotland Yard deeply investigated Mirchi between 1995-1999 when the Red Corner Notice against him was at its peak.
That investigation, however, hasn't yielded much.
India, meanwhile, plans to extradite Mirchi and says he handles Dawood Ibrahim's narcotics trade which pumps money into the underworld don's terror activities.
He is also accused in a few extortion cases and nabbing him could give investigators greater insight on Dawood's operations.
"The Foreign Office is studying the situation and then we will take it forward," Foreign Minister SM Krishna said.
"The extradition warrants do not exist. The Indian government tried to extradite Mr Memon in 1994. It was refused at that time because the judge said there was no evidence at all and no terrorism allegation was made in any of that," said Mr Coult.
Sources in the Mumbai police too say that with no new evidence against Mirchi, chances of him being extradited remain slim.