Dawood calls: Khadse given clean chit by Mumbai police, AAP demand thorough investigation

Mumbai: AAP on Monday said it was surprised at the speed with which the Mumbai police gave a clean chit to Maharashtra Minister Eknath Khadse, after the party alleged that calls were made from underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’s residence in Karachi, to Khadse’s mobile phone. “We trust Mumbai police but we are really surprised at the speed of the clean chit given to the minister. The charges are serious and deserve a thorough investigation,” National AAP spokesperson Preeti Sharma Menon told PTI. Sharma, at a press conference on Saturday, had sought Khadse’s removal from the cabinet, alleging that calls were made from Dawood’s mansion to Khadse’s mobile phone. [caption id=“attachment_2732206” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Senior BJP leader Eknath Khadse. PTI[/caption] The minister had later rubbished the charges as “baseless” saying the phone number mentioned was not in use for last one year. “His number received several calls from Dawood Ibrahim’s wife Mehjabeen Shaikh’s number between 4 September 2015 to 5 April 2016,” she claimed and asked the police to investigate the matter. AAP, by procuring a copy of the bills obtained through an “ethical hacker”, had claimed that a particular number was “active” till last month, and the last generated bill was for Rs 683.22 as on 23 April this year, which was dispatched to Khadse’s home address in Muktainagar tehsil in Jalgaon district of north Maharashtra. On how AAP intends to take forward the issue, Sharma said her party will wait and watch the turn of events for a few days and will move the court if needed. “This is a national security matter and ideally the central government that should investigate it,” the AAP leader added. Asked how true could the claims of “ethical hacker” Manish Bhangale be, she said, “We have no relation with hacker as a party. We just came across his allegations and we think they are very serious and merit a thorough investigation.”