'Dawood Ibrahim has no plans of coming back to India'

Iqbal Kaskar, arrested by Thane Police in an extortion case, has allegedly told interrogators that neither Dawood Ibrahim nor any of his brothers have any plans of returning to India or surrender to the Indian government.

Kaskar, also allegedly revealed to Thane police on Saturday that he spoke to Dawood four times this year over the phone. However, the calls were made using burners and SIM boxes so that they could not be traced by intelligence agencies.

According to sources, Kaskar has told intelligence officers interrogating him that neither Dawood nor any of his brothers had ever expressed any wish of returning to India during his communication with them. The IB had recently questioned Kaskar along with Thane crime branch officers on several issues relating to Dawood and hawala channels used by the gang.

"Kaskar told us about Dawood's locations in Pakistan and about his frequent visits to Dubai from Pakistan for business purposes. While initially, he denied having any communication with Dawood, he has now started speaking. He also stated that he had recently spoken to Dawood four times, but said that it was an informal conversation. We are verifying and trying to validate all his statements," said a senior police officer from Thane police.