Senior advocate Ram Jethmalani has claimed that underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and his close associate, Chhota Shakeel, had offered to surrender to Indian authorities in the 90s, but the then-Maharashtra chief minister Sharad Pawar had rejected the offer.

Media reports have quoted Jethmalani as saying that Shakeel had contacted him in London with the offer and had asked that both dons be kept under house arrest during the trial, but the state government had been unable to guarantee the same.