In a prima facie clean chit given to Maharashtra Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse in the Dawood Ibrahim call log case, the Mumbai police said on Sunday that no calls were made or received on Khadse's Mobile phone from underworld don's wife Mehjabeen Shaikh during the entire period between September 2015 to April 2016.
A day after AAP leader Preeti Sharma Menon went to town alleging that Khadse had "lied" that his phone was out of service for the last one year, the Mumbai police dismissed the allegation that there were neither outgoing nor incoming calls between the telephone numbers of the minister and Karachi-based Dawood's residential phone number.
Alluding to the call log issues raised by AAP leader at her Saturday's news conference, Mumbai" Joint Commissioner of Police (crime) Atulchandra Kulkarni said: "Our initial analysis of the cell phone no. 9423073667 (Khadse's mobile number) indicated that there have been neither outgoing nor incoming calls from this cell number to that of the fugitive during the entire period of Sept 2015 to April 2016 as mentioned at the press conference".
"When the issue of contact of honourable minister of govt of Maharashtra with Mumbai fugitive dawood Ibrahim based abroad cropped up today in a press conference, we checked the details," Kulkarni said.
At her Saturday's news conference, AAP leader Preeti Sharma Menon had 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".
"The recording clearly shows that the number was active. It proves that the minister is not speaking truth," she had said, while 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.
"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 had 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 had 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".
Maintaining that the issues raised out of the findings of "ethical hacker" Manish were grave in nature, Preeti had said: "The Maharashtra government must either authenticate or refute Manish's claim and share the findings with the people of this state".
"We reiterate that this is a very serious matter of national security and for a fair investigation Eknath Khadse should be removed from office immediately," she said.
On his part, Khadse has 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 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.
