Dawood Ibrahim is listed as a global terrorist by the UN Security Council.
Amid reports that the properties of India's most wanted Dawood Ibrahim have been seized by the UK government, union minister VK Singh commented today that "things are happening" but added: "We can't let the cat out of the bag".
Reports say the underworld don's properties worth nearly seven billion dollars have been seized by the UK government. According to the British media, Dawood owns a hotel in Warwickshire and residential properties near Birmingham in the midlands. Those have been sealed, say officials.
"We will not talk about Dawood at all. Certain things are happening. We can't let the cat be let out of the bag," Mr Singh, the Minister of State for External Affairs, told reporters in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram.
Dawood, the mastermind of the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts in which 257 were killed, appears on UK's latest list of Financial Sanctions Targets. He is the only "Indian national" on an updated list of financial sanctions which also lists 21 aliases for him and refers to three recorded addresses in Pakistan's Karachi.
"Kaskar Dawood Ibrahim" is recorded to have lived at - House No 37, 30th Street - Defence Housing Authority, Karachi, Pakistan; Noorabad, Karachi, Pakistan (Palatial bungalow in the hilly area); and White House, Near Saudi Mosque, Clifton, Karachi, Pakistan.
A fourth address on record until last year has been removed.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his visit to the UK in 2015, had reportedly handed over a dossier on the terrorist to his then British counterpart David Cameron.
Dawood is listed as a global terrorist by the UN Security Council's IS and al-Qaida Sanctions Committee. In a validation of India's stand that the man it has hunted for over two decades has been shielded by Pakistan, the UN agency amended its entry on Dawood last year by adding his addresses in Karachi.
Known to be one of the richest gangsters in the world, Dawood allegedly has business interests in more than a dozen countries spread over Europe, Africa and South Asia.
UK lists his aliases as: Abdul, Shaikh, Ismail; Abdul Aziz, Abdul Hamid; Abdul Rehman, Shaikh, Mohd, Ismail; Anis, Ibrahim, Shaikh, Mohd; Bhai, Bada; Bhai, Dawood; Bhai, Iqbal; Dilip, Aziz; Ebrahim, Dawood; Farooqi, Sheikh; Hasan, Kaskar, Dawood; Hassan, Dawood; Ibrahim, Anis; Ibrahim, Dowood, Hassan, Shaikh; Kaskar, Daud, Hasan, Shaikh, Ibrahim; Kaskar, Daud, Ibrahim, Memon; Kaskar, Dawood, Hasan, Ibrahim; Memon, Dawood, Ibrahim; Sabri, Dawood; Sahab, Haji; and Seth, Bada.