"Sanjay Raut is right. Indira Gandhi used to meet him [Karim Lala]. Many other leaders also used to visit. Haji Mastan was a businessman. Balasaheb Thackeray too was a good friend of Haji Mastan," Shekhar told ANI.
The Shiv Sena leader on Wednesday claimed that Indira Gandhi used to go and meet 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 had said here on Wednesday.
However, he retracted his remarks on Thursday saying if someone feels that his statement had hurt the image of Indira Gandhiji or hurt feelings, he takes back his remarks.
Lala was involved in smuggling, narcotics, gambling, forced property evictions, and extortion rackets in Mumbai for over two decades. He died in 2002 at the age of 90.
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