Neeraj Kumar rubbished a report which quoted him as saying that Dawood Ibrahim wanted to surrender in 1994 but his top bosses did not allow it.

Former Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar on Saturday rubbished a media report which quoted him as saying that underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, who allegedly organised 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, wanted to surrender in 1994 but his top bosses did not allow it. Kumar was the deputy inspector general (DIG) of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) then.

The report further says Kumar still wonders if the then PV Narasimha Rao-led government at the Centre had anything to do with the order from them.

“I did not give any such interview. The report (published in a leading English daily) is based on our informal conversation with the journalist on a chapter of my soon-to-be published book. I have been misquoted at several places in the report,” he told Firstpost.

The daily quotes Kumar thus: “I spoke to a jittery Dawood three times in June 1994…. He seemed to be toying with the idea of surrendering but had one worry — his rival gangs could finish him off if he returned to India. I told him his safety would be the responsibility of the CBI.” But the seniors of the then DIG CBI reportedly told him to stop calling Dawood.

Terming the report "baseless" and "concocted", the former police officer, who retired in July 2013 as commissioner of Delhi Police, said, “Yes, it is true that I had words with Dawood thrice. During the three telephonic conversations, he kept trying to convince me that he had no involvement in the serial blasts (in which 257 people died and over 700 suffered injuries). But he never offered to or indicated that he was willing to surrender. The story that I was instructed by my seniors to put an end to the talks is baseless and concocted," he said.

However, Kumar confirmed that Dawood’s trusted aide Manish Lala, who was behind bars in the Arthur Road jail, had facilitated the conversation.

Kumar is writing a book on top 10 probes he conducted during 37 years of his service as an officer of the Indian Police Service. His book, which will be published next year by Penguin, will have a chapter titled ‘Dialogue with the Don’ in which he will be narrating his conversation with Dawood.