TIA NEWS
Mumbai police said, no calls were made or received on Maharashtra Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse’s phone from underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’s number as claimed by Aam Aadmi Party leader Preeti Sharma Menon.
Mumbai Joint Commissioner of Police (crime) Atulchandra Kulkarni said, initial analysis of the cell phone number belonging to Khadse indicated that there were neither outgoing nor incoming calls from this number to Dawood during the entire period of September, 2015 to April, 2016, as stated in the AAP press conference.
The AAP leader, in a press conference yesterday, had alleged that the Maharashtra minister had received several calls from Dawood Ibrahim’s wife Mehjabeen Shaikh’s between September 4, 2015 and April 5, 2016.
Menon further claimed that the Maharashtra Chief Minister had asked the police to investigate the matter.
Citing a sensational scoop by an ‘ethical hacker’ Manish Bhangale, the Aam Aadmi Party had demanded Mr Khadse’s resignation alleging calls were made from Dawood Ibrahim’s residence in Karachi to his mobile phone.
“Eknath Khadse lied about his phone being out of service. His number received several calls from Dawood Ibrahim’s wife Mehjabeen Shaikh’s number between September 4 2015 to April 5, 2016,” AAP spokesperson Preeti Sharma Menon claimed in a press conference in Mumbai.
She also accused the minister of interfering in the investigation and said she met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to raise the issue. “I wrote to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis demanding a fair investigation as this is a very serious charge concerning national security,” she said.
Mr Khadse has dismissed the allegations as baseless stating the particular number was not in use for the last one year.