Thursday, April 21 2005 20:00 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: A special court in Mumbai today (Apr 21, 2005) cancelled the non-bailable warrant (NBW) issued against Gutka king Jagdish Joshi in the case of alleged links with the underworld and directed the CBI to file its report by June 28 on investigations made by it in this matter.

The warrant was cancelled by designated judge A P Bhangale, as CBI said that Joshi had appeared before them for investigations in the case of alleged links with underworld and is cooperating in the probe.

CBI sought two months time to submit its report and the court asked the agency to file its investigation report by June 28.

The court had issued warrant against Joshi and another gutka king Rasiklal Manikchand Dhariwal for their failure to appear in this case. Both were in Dubai and had expressed their inability to come to India immediately to maintain their NRI status.

Later, Joshi returned and Dhariwal followed him. Both of them appeared before CBI on several occasions.

The court has granted permanent exemption to Joshi from appearance in this case and directed his lawyers to produce a true copy of the Supreme Court order on discharging NBW it had issued against Dhariwal.

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

Co-accused Jamiruddin Kalia alias Jumbo had claimed during interrogation that Joshi and Dhariwal had alleged links with the underworld and that they had sought the help of Pakistan-based don Dawood Ibrahim to settle their business dispute.

Jumbo had also told the police that both the gutka kings had helped Dawood in establishing gutka business in Pakistan and also exported pouch-making machinery to Pakistan via Dubai.