Bombay HC refuses urgent hearing to hacker

The vacation bench of the Bombay high court on Monday refused to hear an application filed by self-proclaimed hacker Manish Bhangale saying there was no urgency in his matter and asked him to mention it before a regular court after the vacations are over.

Mr Bhangale has moved the high court seeking a CBI inquiry into fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim allegedly being in touch with revenue minister Eknath Khadse. He has also sought for security cover claiming that he has received threats.

Mr Bhangale claimed he had hacked into the records of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) and accessed call records of the four landlines registered under the name of Mehjabeen Shaikh, wife of Dawood. These landlines are in Dawood’s house located in Clifton, Karachi in Pakistan.

Mr Bhangale further claimed that the call data records obtained by him show Dawood has been in touch with many influential people in the country. He has requested the court to direct the CBI to investigate the numbers and the people the gangster is allegedly in touch with.

It is alleged in the petition that various organisations are trying to taint the data. He said that the superintendent of police of Jalgaon, Jalinder Supekar, obtained a clean chit from a mobile company in the name of Mr Khadse and told the media that Mr Khadse was in the clear. According to the petitioner this whole exercise was “overzealous” as the police officer did not have his statement or data obtained by him but he still approached the service provider and got a clean chit for the minister.

When the petition came up for hearing on Monday before Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice B.P. Colabawalla, the bench said there was nothing urgent in the petition and directed him to mention the petition before a regular bench.