Vadodara-based “ethical hacker” Manish Bhangale, who had accused Maharashtra’s then Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse of having been in touch with Karachi-based underworld don Dawood Ibrahium over telephone, was on Friday arrested by the Mumbai police for allegedly fabricating a fake mobile bill linking the senior BJP leader with Dawood.
In what came as vindication for Khadse who had denied the charges made against him by the man who had claimed himself to be an “ethical hacker”, the city police crime branch sleuths arrested Bhangale on charges of sections 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) of IPC read with 66 D of the Information Technology Act.
Bhangale was produced before a city court which remanded him in police custody till April 6.
The investigations have revealed that Bhangale had created a fake mobile bill on a computer to show call records between Khadse and Dawood’s residence in Pakistan.
Khadse had resigned as a senior Minister in the Maharashtra Government on June 4 last year, following allegations of misuse of office in the Pune land deal and nexus with Dawood.
One of the most serious charges that Khadse had faced then was several calls were received on Khadse’s cell phone (9423073667) from Karachi-based underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’s wife Mehjabeen Shaikh between September 2015 and April 2016.
On his part, Khadse had denied the allegations made by AAP leader Preeti Sharma Menon against him, saying that his mobile number 9423073667 was not in service for the past one year and that he had neither received or made any international calls on this number during this period.
It may be recalled that quoting the called data provided to her by Bhangale, AAP leader Preeti Sharma Menon had gone to town on May 21, 2016 alleging that Khadse’s name figured in the frequently-dialled international call list of Dawood.
“Khadse has admitted that the number 9423073667 belongs to him. Manish hacked a list of international numbers dialled from Dawood Ibrahim’s home phone and this is one of the numbers frequently dialled from Dawood’s home from September 5 2015 to April 5, 2016. Khadse’s claim that this number is not operational is not true,” the AAP leader had said.
The AAP leader had also revealed that the “ethical hacker” Bhangale 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,” Preeti Sharma had claimed at a news conference.
Subsequently on July 18 last year, Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Monday told the Bombay High Court that it — in its preliminary investigations — found that he had no terrorist link nor had he exchanged telephone calls with Dawoob Ibrahim.
“The ATS conducted preliminary inquiry. No terrorist angle has been found as alleged by the hacker. No calls were exchanged between Khadse and underworld don Dawood, as alleged by the hacker,” ATS advocate Niteen Pradhan had informed the high court.