Sunday, April 17 2005 10:22 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: More than a month after gutka king Jagdish Joshi surrendered before the CBI in a case of alleged nexus with the underworld, the special court would next week decide his plea for cancellation of non-bailable warrant (NBW) issued against him.

Granting him permanent exemption from appearance in the case, the court had earlier ruled that it would finally hear his plea on April 21.

Earlier, Special Judge A P Bhangale had asked Joshi's lawyers to produce a true copy of the Supreme Court order on discharging NBW it had issued against another gutka baron Rasiklal Dhariwal.

The NBW was issued against Joshi for failure to appear in a case of alleged nexus with the underworld.

Joshi's lawyer urged for cancellation of NBW saying Joshi had appeared before CBI a couple of times and had co-operated with the agency in the probe for over a month and he would continue to co-operate in the future.

In a separate development, the court has adjourned till April 29 the bail plea of accused Jamiruddin Kalia alias Jumbo, who has been arrested on the charge of forging links with the underworld to set up gutka business.

Jumbo had sought bail on the ground that his confessional statement had been allegedly tampered with by police.

Jumbo was arrested by the crime branch for allegedly threatening a builder. However, during interrogation, he revealed the alleged underworld links of Rasiklal Manikchand Dhariwal and J M Joshi, owners of Manikchand and Goa gutka respectively.