Indira Gandhi used to visit underworld don Karim Lala: Sanjay Raut

Senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Wednesday sparked a controversy saying that former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi used to meet yesteryear don Karim Lala in Mumbai. 

"There was a time when Dawood Ibrahim, Chhota Shakeel, Sharad Shetty used to decide who would be Police Commissioner of Mumbai and who would sit in the 'Mantralaya'. Indira Gandhi used to go and meet Karim Lala. We've seen that underworld, now it's just chillar," Raut said at a function in Mumbai.

Rawat also said that the gangsters used to have control over the metropolis and adjoining areas. "Those were the days of underworld. Now there is nothing like that," he said.

Lala was an underworld don and operated in narcotics, gambling, smuggling, and extortion rackets in Mumbai for over two decades. He died in 2002 at the age of 90.

The Shiv Sena leader, who was earlier a journalist, also claimed that he has photographed the fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim, who is a prime accused in the 1993 Mumbai blasts.

"I have conducted a photo session of Dawood Ibrahim and others. There are a few people in the country who have seen and talked to Dawood Ibrahim. I have seen him, talked to him several times and even threatened him but that was a different time," he said.

Shiv Sena has a coalition government in Maharashtra with Congress (the party that Indira Gandhi belonged to) and NCP.