On the Dawood Ibrahim controversy, Eknath Khadse said he has not received any international calls in the last year.
Highlights
- Hacker, AAP had said Khadse recieved calls from Dawood Ibrahim's number
- No international calls recieved in 1 year: Minister, Police backs claim
- AAP demands resignation, writes to CM Fadnavis to look into matter
Maharashtra Minister Eknath Khadse has rubbished the charges of having received calls from underworld don Dawood Ibrahim as "baseless".
Responding to charges by a hacker and the Aam Aadmi Party, Mr Khadse said, "The charges are completely baseless. My questions is, how did they find out Dawood's number? If they have found his number, they should have gone to the police."
Mr Khadse said he has a written statement from his cellphone carrier stating he has not received any international calls in the last one year.
The Police also backed the minister's claim. "Our initial analysis of the cellphone records indicated there have been neither incoming nor outgoing calls on the minister's number to that of the fugitive (Dawood) during the entire period of September 2015 to April 2016," senior police officer Atul Chandra Kulkarni said.
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 Bhangale has said he first went to Dubai and got Dawood's wife Mehjabeen's number, hacked it and placed a call details request on her behalf to Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL).