Manikchand gutka owner Rasiklal Manikchand Dhariwal on Friday gave an undertaking to the Supreme Court that he would appear before the Central Bureau of Investigation on April 4.

In turn, the agency said it would not arrest him in the case of alleged underworld nexus.

On Dhariwal's behalf, his son Prakash Rasiklal Dhariwal gave the undertaking before a bench comprising Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice Tarun Chatterjee.

Immediately, Solicitor General G E Vahanvati, appearing for the CBI, assured the court that the agency would not execute the pending non-bailable warrant against Dhariwal.

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Dhariwal had earlier claimed he could not return from abroad earlier as it would disturb his non-resident Indian status and also have financial implications.

Prakash had challenged a Bombay high court order refusing to stay the NBW issued against his father by the Mumbai police, which was investigating the case before the CBI took over.

During the hearing, the bench questioned as to how a NBW could be issued against Dhariwal, who has been shown only as a witness in the case.

"Under what provision of the Criminal Procedure Code was the warrant issued?" the bench asked.

It said, "The police has no power to issue warrants against a witness."

The bench added the warrant could have been issued only if Dhariwal had been an accused in the case.

Vahanvati said the warrants were issued to produce Dhariwal in a court and claimed there were several documents to show his involvement in the case.

Dhariwal and Goa [Images] gutka owner J M Joshi are suspected to have helped gangster Dawood Ibrahim's [Images] brother Anees Ibrahim set up a gutka manufacturing unit in Karachi, Pakistan.