Wednesday, March 9 2005 19:03 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Gutka baron Rasiklal Manikchand Dhariwal has moved the Supreme Court for quashing a non-bailable warrant issued against him by Mumbai police for his failure to appear in a case of his alleged underworld links.

The Special Leave Petition filed by Dhariwal challenges a February 22 order of the Bombay High Court rejecting his plea for quashing the NBW.

Mumbai police had argued that custodial interrogation of the Dhariwal was necessary to dig out the truth while CBI said it did not intend to arrest them right now but may register a fresh case if need be after questioning them.

The warrants were issued on the request of Mumbai police which probed the case earlier. CBI has recently taken over investigations in the case.

Dhariwal and Jagdish Joshi, owners of "Manikchand Gutka" and "Goa Gutka" respectively, had pleaded that the Mumbai Crime Branch had summoned them for questioning but they had informed police about their inability to come to India from foreign countries at this juncture as their NRI status would be disturbed.

Both had challenged non-bailable warrants issued by a special court against them for failure to appear in the case of alleged nexus with underworld.

Joshi had come back to India and agreed to face questioning by the investigating authorities. The High Court has fixed March 16 for hearing on his plea for quashing the NBW issued against him.