NEW DELHI. A criminal court in Thailand on Wednesday ruled that close associate of underworld don Chhota Shakeel , Sayyed Muzakkir Muddassar Hussain alias Munna Jhingra is an Indian citizen and consequently ordered his repatriation back to India, reported news agency ANI.

The case has been under trial since April 2017 and involved a dispute between India and Pakistan over the citizenship of Munna, who has been lodged in a Bangkok prison since September 2000.

In April, this year, the Thailand court had allowed the deposition of 41 Pakistani witnesses who were trying to establish Munna’s Pakistani origin. His second wife and children are in Pakistan, a fact that was referred to as proof of his Pakistani nationality by the Pakistani witnesses.

However, India’s claims on Jhingra were backed by Mumbai crime branch submitting dossiers to the Thai court.

Jhingra studied in Ismail Yusuf College in Jogeshwari and was married to a woman in Mumbai and has children with her. His first family still lives in Jogeshwari.

After being released on bail in 1997, Jhingra reportedly fled to Dubai and then to Karachi in 1999 to join the D-gang run by Dawood Ibrahim .

After lying low for few years, he was sent to Thailand and assigned with the task to kill Chhota Rajan .

Jhingra was arrested in 2002 and charged with attempted murder and murder by Bangkok police. He was sentenced to 14 years in jail by a Bangkok court.

When India moved the Thailand court to seek his extradition, Pakistan staked claim leading to a prolonged legal tussle.

