Following his arrest last month in connection with cases of extortion and attempted murder against him, Lakdawala, 50, who had been on the run for two decades and was once a close aide of Don Dawood Ibrahim, made this revelation during interrogation by the Mumbai Crime Branch.
After their failed attempt to kill Dawood Ibrahim, aides of Chhota Shakeel assaulted him and gangster Chhota Rajan, he told the police.
According to a source in the Crime Branch, some of Chhota Rajan's close aides planned to kill Dawood Ibrahim in Karachi in 1998 with the help of Indian agencies.
Vicky Malhotra, Farid Tanasha, Balu Dokre, Lakdawala, Vinod Matkar, Sanjay Ghate, and Baba Reddy led a team to Karachi in 1998 to kill him, but they were unsuccessful.
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After his daughter Maria's death in Karachi, Dawood Ibrahim was expected to visita 'dargah' (shrine).
"Vicky Malhotra and others were waiting for him," the source said, "but they had to call off the operation because Dawood Ibrahim arrived at the dargah with heavy security after receiving a tip-off from a Nepal parliamentarian."
When the team arrived at their home, Chhota Rajan told them they had to leave right away because the operation had been leaked to Dawood Ibrahim.
Lakdawala also advised the Indian cops that the Pakistani police were likely to raid their flat in the next two days and seize all of the guns they had in order to kill Dawood Ibrahim.
Malhotra later assassinated the Nepal parliamentarian, while Chhota Rajan was attacked in 2000 by Munna Jhingada alias Sayyed Muddassar Hussain, a close aide of Dawood Ibrahim, who is currently residing in Pakistan.
In 2002, Lakdawala was targeted in Bangkok's bustling Bobae Market district.
He said that a 'tabeez' (amulet) saved him from six bullets fired from point-blank range on his chest, hands, and neck by Chhota Shakeel's aides.
According to the source, Lakdawala informed the police that his aide Salim Penwala, who was also arrested last month, was the one who had traveled to Bangkok to send him the amulet.
"Lakdawala, on the other hand, was suspicious and refused to meet Penwala. Instead, he deployed his wife to retrieve the amulet, instructing her not to return home immediately after meeting Penwala. But she disobeyed his orders and returned home immediately "according to the source
Lakdawala was targeted after two days.
"During the attack, he told the police that the amulet he had in his pocket saved his life," the source said.
He also received medical attention right away since he was shot near a hospital and then fled to Canada.
Chhota Shakeel then told newspapers and television stations that Lakdawala had died.
According to the source, some people later reported to Shakeel that Lakdawala had survived the attack, which the former couldn't believe.
People thought Lakdawala was dead for a few days, according to the source, but when his activities resumed, the underworld learned he was alive.
But, according to the source, after the assault on him, Lakdawala became very religious.
Lakdawala also told the cops that he doesn't know if Penwala was the one who attacked him. He had no other men to work for him, so he had no choice but to work with Penwala to carry out his extortion project.
Lakdawala had been living in Nepal on a fake visa for the past few years, according to the police.
After surviving the attack, Lakdawala traveled to Pakistan to learn more about Dawood Ibrahim.
On January 9, the Mumbai police's Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC) arrested him because he was wanted in Maharashtra for extortion and attempted murder.
Following a quarrel with Dawood Ibrahim, Lakdawala began working with Dawood's aide-turned-enemy Chhota Rajan.
He split up with Rajan in 2008 and began working on his own, according to a police official.
Meanwhile, earlier news arrived that Chhota Rajan dies due to Covid 19 at AIIMS but now the All India Institute of Medical Services (AIIMS) in Delhi said on Friday that underworld gangster Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje, also known as 'Chhota Rajan,' is still alive.