Maharashtra’s Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse on Saturday found himself in a fresh controversy over his number figuring in the frequently-dialled international call list of Dawood Ibrahim, with the Aam Admi Party (AAP) intensifying its clamour for his resignation and the State Government ordering an inquiry into whether phone calls were indeed made to the Minister’s number from the Karachi-based don’s residential phone number.
Within days after the Opposition demanding for his resignation over the arrest of one Gajanan Patil claiming himself to be his “personal aide” for allegedly demanding a Rs 30-crore bribe from an entrepreneur over a land allotment issue, the AAP turned up heat on Khadse by alleging that the latter had “lied” that his phone was out of service for the last one year.
On his part, Khadse vehemently denied the allegations made by AAP leader Preeti Sharma Menon against him, saying that his mobile number 9423073667 was not in service for the last one year and that he had neither received or made any international calls on this number during this period.
Khadse said that he had requested Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to order an allegations made by Preeti. The Mumbai Police Commissioner and Jalgaon District Superintendent of Police (DSP) were investigating the matter. The Jalgaon DSP had obtained call data records of his unused phone from Idea Cellurlar company for a period between May 1, 2015 to May 8, 2016.
“The possibility of someone having misused my telephone number can not be ruled out. I have requested the Chief Minister and Jalgaon DSP to inquire into the matter,” Khadse said in a statement.
Earlier, addressing a news conference here, AAP leader Preeti Sharma Menon produced “evidence” gathered by an “ethical hacker” that purportedly showed Khadse’s number was working till April 2016 and alleged that the calls were received on the Minister’s number between September 5 2015 to April 5 2016.
“Ethical Hacker Manish liladhar Bhangale has refuted Eknath Khadse’s claim that the number is not in operation. It may be true that the number was switched off after the story broke. On May 20, Manish sent a recording wherein the Idea IVRS states that there is no billing for the month of May 2016 for the number 9423073667, but the bill which was generated on 23 April 2016 was for Rs 683.22”.
Producing an Ideal TVR recording that showed the bill on Khadse’s purported number which was generated on 23 April 2016 was for Rs 683.22 and that the last payment made was of Rs 700, Preeti said, “The recording clearly show that the number was active. It proves that the Minister is not speaking truth”.
“Khadse has admitted that the number 9423073667 belongs to him. Manish hacked a list of international numbers dialed from Dawood Ibrahim’s home phone and this is one of the numbers frequently dialed from Dawood’s home between September 5 2015 to April 5, 2016. Khadse’s claim that this number is not operational is not true,” the AAP leader said.
Preeti, who had earlier met the Chief Minister, said that she had submitted a letter to Fadnavis, demanding Khadse’s resignation on the twin the Gajanan Patil bribery and the Dawood call log issues. “Following my request, the chief minister has ordered an inquiry into the matter,” Preeti said.
The AAP leader also revealed that the “ethical hacker” had met her and other party colleagues and showed us how he could access the call logs of Dawood Ibrahim’s wife, Mehjabeen Shaikh’s (aliad Zubeena Zareen). “He (Manish) told us how he could access Mehjabeen Shaikh’s account of number 021-35871719 from the website of Pakistan Telecommunication Company limited (PTCl)... He then showed us how he hacked an email wherein PTCl wrote to Mehjabeen Shaikh and gave her list of 10 international numbers that were frequently called from her number, in which the now famous Eknath Khadse number is listed”.
“AAP believes that this is a very serious charge and the Maharashtra Government must either authenticate or refute Manish’s claim and share the findings with the people of this state,” Preeti said.
