Narasimha Rao backed decision to reject Dawood Ibrahim’s conditional offer of surrender: Sharad Pawar

Pawar says that his decision to reject 1993 Mumbai blasts mastermind Dawood Ibrahim's conditional offer of surrender was supported by the then prime minister PV Narasimha Rao.

New Delhi: NCP chief Sharad Pawar has come up with some startling revelations in his memoir 'On My Terms: From the Grassroots to the Corridors of Power'. In one of the disclosures, he says that his decision to reject 1993 Mumbai blasts mastermind Dawood Ibrahim's conditional offer of surrender was supported by the then prime minister PV Narasimha Rao.

According to a Hindustan Times report, Pawar in his memoir has said that during his tenure as Maharashtra's chief minister, noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani had presented to him Dawood's proposal to surrender and face trial provided the Indian government agreed to his “conditions”.

The gangster wanted to be kept under house arrest and not in jail, HT quoted excerpts from Pawar's memoir.

On learning about Dawood's offer, Pawar discussed the issue with PM Rao and the latter agreed to the point that the pre-conditions shouldn't be entertained.

Pawar has also revealed in his book that two days after the Mumbai blasts, Rao had called him and advised him to beef up his personal security after the Intelligence Bureau (IB) had intercepted conversations between a Pakistani army officer and a henchman, talking about his assassination plan.