Dawood spoke to brother Kaskar on mobile, said he wanted to return to India

Iqbal Kaskar, who was deported from the United Arab Emirates in 2003, is said to be operating his brother Dawood Ibrahim's real estate business in Mumbai

Dawood Ibrahim's brother Iqbal Ibrahim Kaskar told a Thane court on Tuesday that he talks to the fugitive mafia don on his cellphone. On being asked by the Chief Judicial Magistrate to part with the contact number of the 1992 Bombay serial blasts mastermind, however, Kaskar said he neither knew Dawood's location nor his phone number.

In the meantime, Iqbal Kaskar's lawyer Shyam Keswani stood up to tell the court that Dawood Ibrahim had offered to come back to India provided he was lodged at the Arthur Road jail. Keswani also said that noted criminal lawyer Ram Jethmalani was mediating between the Indian government and Dawood. "He had also conveyed his intentions through (former union minister and eminent lawyer) Ram Jethmalani a few years ago but the Indian government has not entertained any of his preconditions to return," Kesvani was quoted as saying by IANS.

Kaskar is in police custody in connection with an extortion case. He was already in judicial remand after the Thane police's anti-extortion cell arrested him last year in connection with two cases. Thane police had earlier slapped charges against Kaskar and his accomplices under the MCOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act).

The Thane police's Crime Branch had arrested Kaskar along with others on September 18 last year for allegedly threatening a Borivali builder in the name of Dawood Ibrahim and extorting millions of rupees as well as four flats.

Shyam Keswani also told the court that Iqbal Kaskar was a diabetic and was suffering from an injury, so he required urgent medical attention. The court asked the accused to get himself treated at a civil hospital and extended his judicial remand till March 9.

McDawood?

Dawood was in the news last week when British authorities busted a vast portfolio of properties held by him after the Indian High Commission handed over a dossier based on the Panama papers. The 62-year-old fugitive used to smuggle drugs through Pakistan and across Indian borders for shipment to Europe and North America from the ports at Mumbai, according to a new BBC documentary called McMafia.

Dawood's final problem?

Dawood is yet to find his Michael Corleone. The feared don is 'depressed' as his only son Moin Kaskar, aged 31, has turned his back on the family business and decided to become a Maulana. 

"Moin is understood to be against his father's illegal activities which have given the entire family a notorious reputation worldwide and made many of them wanted fugitives everywhere," Thane anti-extortion cell head Pradeep Sharma told news agency IANS.

Earlier, Iqbal Kaskar had revealed that Dawood is in excellent health and living in Karachi under the protective eyes of the Pakistani agencies, dismissing all speculation on his physical well-being that keeps floating occasionally. He also told investigators that Moin, who is now a respected and qualified Islamic cleric, has memorised the entire Holy Quran which comprises 6,236 verses.