Dawood was not serious about his surrender: MN Singh

New Delhi: MN Singh, the erstwhile police commissioner of Mumbai, rubbished the report the authorities rejected most wanted don Dawood's surrender. He was speaking at the book launch of veteran journalist Sheela Raval.

He stated that the gangster's offer could not be taken at face value as his conditions for surrender were unacceptable. His motive was only to 'create a misleading picture' of the authorities objecting to his return to the country.

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

"If any person wants to surrender, he wouldn't put the conditions which he had put," he added.

He further elaborated on his discussion with Mahesh Jethmalani (son of Ram Jethmalani, whom Dawood had contacted for surrender), who conveyed the conversation between his father (Ram Jethmalani) and Dawood.

After hearing out all the conditions, Singh said, only one of the three conditions was acceptable to the police. The others could not be accepted by any 'sensible man'.

Singh also affirmed that Dawood was no patriot, but a terrorist whose actions had claimed the lives of 257 innocents.

"Let us see what kind of a person Dawood Ibrahim is. He is the son of a police havildar who lived in a dingy area and a school dropout… but he is a genius! Now, let me tell you, if this man had not messed up and got involved with the ISI of Pakistan in the 1993 blast case, he would have come back to India, got some punishment and settled down in life as a businessman," Singh said.