India's most wanted terrorist Dawood Ibrahim is still in Pakistan, his brother Iqbal Kaskar has told the Intelligence Bureau or IB and the police, people familiar with the case said on Thursday. Iqbal Kaskar was arrested in Mumbai on Tuesday in an extortion case.

Kaskar has been questioned by intelligence and crime branch officers over the last two days and has provided vital information related to Dawood and his whereabouts, a senior Thane Police officer told news agency PTI yesterday.

Kaskar, the officer said, has confirmed that his brother is in Pakistan. Dawood is wanted in several cases including the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts in which 257 people were killed.

Dawood has been wary of calling his relatives or his men in India as he is scared his phone could be tapped, the officer, who asked not to be identified, said.

On Thursday, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray claimed that Dawood is trying to negotiate his return with the government as he wants to spend his last days in his home country, and that the ruling BJP wants to bring him back to score in elections.

"Dawood is now physically handicapped. Hence, he is keen on returning to India and he has been negotiating with the Union government as well..." Mr Thackeray had said at a function to mark his Facebook debut.

Kaskar also told the interrogators that he has spoken with his other brother, Anees Ibrahim, who lives with Dawood, four or five times in the recent past. The information given by Kaskar will help in probing cases against members of Dawood's terrorist group in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane, the police officer said.

The police said Dawood's drug 'business' has spread to Africa and even South America, while Kaskar looks after his 'real estate business' in Mumbai. Complaints of extortion by Dawood's men in Mumbai and Thane are likely to rise, police said.

The Thane Police officer said the crime branch has sent a team to Bihar in connection with an extortion case in which some shooters were believed to have been hired from the state to scare complainants.

The complainants are likely to get police protection, the officer said.

Using Dawood's name, Kaskar had been threatening a real estate businessman in Thane since 2013, police said, adding that he took Rs. 30 lakh and four flats from the builder.

Kaskar was deported from the United Arab Emirates in 2003.

India says there is proof that Dawood, hunted for over two decades, has been living in Pakistan's Karachi, which has been confirmed by the UN. In more validation of New Delhi's stand, Britain's list of Financial Sanctions Targets refers to the terrorist's three recorded addresses in Karachi.

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