No police clean chit to Maha minister Khadse on ‘calls from Dawood’

Trouble is not over for senior BJP leader and state revenue minister Eknath Khadse, especially after the Mumbai police on Tuesday insisted that the leader has not been given a clean chit yet.

Following fresh claims made by a hacker about seven calls allegedly made on his phone from the residence of fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim, Aam Admi Party leader (AAP) Preeti Menon who had demanded probe into the allegations on Tuesday met Mumbai police commissioner Datta Padsalgikar and submitted concerned documents that were made available by an ethical hacker, Manish Bhangale.

The hacker has claimed that calls were made from Dawood’s residence on Khadse’s number during January to March 2015. He has also claimed that the longest call among them was made on March 23, 2015.

However, Khadse also came in counter-attack mode as he has now written a letter to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis requesting him to register cases action against Preeti Menon, Manish Bhangale and Jayesh Shah for hacking Pakistani telecom company’s database, which is in violation of section 65 and 66 (F)(1)(B) of Information Technology Act.

Khadse also requested CM to initiate thorough probe with the help of Cyber Crime cell of the Mumbai Police and also investigate all the allegations made against him over call logs.

The AAP leader wanted police to interrogate all the five persons whose names appeared in the call log of Dawood including Khadse.

Menon said, “I felt it necessary to meet the police commissioner and make him understand seriousness of the case as nothing concrete has been done by them so far. The Mumbai CP has assured us detailed probe in the case.”

“He (Padsalgikar) too admitted that it was just preliminary probe and detail investigation is still on,” Menon added.

Khadse in his letter said, “I request to direct the Mumbai Police to book all three — Preeti Menon, Manish Bhangale and Jayesh Dave under IT Act and investigate the matter thoroughly. Also, probe the allegations over use of my cell number when it was not operational,” quoted the letter.

Khadse on Tuesday said he will not comment till police probe is completed. “I have decided not to make any clarifications further. Let them make all the allegations, I will talk once probe in completed by Mumbai Police,” the revenue minister told HT.