Congress questions CM’s clean chit to Eknath Khadse

The Congress on Thursday accused chief minister Devendra Fadnavis of giving misguiding information about a case in the high court regarding phone calls between gangster Dawood Ibrahim and former minister Eknath Khadse. Quoting a high court order, the Congress said that the court has not given any clean chit to Mr Khadse, as claimed by the CM. In fact, the investigation into the allegations is still incomplete, the Congress said.

Raising the issue through an adjournment motion, Congress MLC Sanjay Dutt rubbished the clean chit given to the beleaguered minister by Mr Fadnavis claiming that the anti-terrorism squad (ATS) has cleared him of links with Dawood, and the Bombay high court had disposed the matter.

“The high court has clearly mentioned that they have not expressed any opinion on the merits of the allegations made by the petitioner. Then how can chief minister claim that the allegations have been dismissed by the HC,” Mr Dutt questioned, quoting the HC judgment.

The Congress MLC sought to know that when an inquiry is still in progress, on what basis has Mr Khadse been given a clean chit. “The investigation is being conducted only in respect of one telephone number while the complaint was against two numbers. What happened to the second number ” he asked.

Leader of Opposition Dhananjay Munde also backed Mr Dutt and said the government needs to make its stand clear on the issue.

Parliamentary affairs minister Girish Bapat then said that rules are not being followed while raising motions over issues.

Council chairman Ramraje Nimbalkar later rejected the motion over discussion on the issue.

Earlier this month, Maharashtra ATS had told the Bombay high court that its preliminary inquiry has found that there was no exchange of calls between Mr Khadse and the fugitive gangster and that no terrorist link was found, as alleged by a Gujarat-based hacker Manish Bhangale.

The high court, after disposing of Mr Bhangale’s petition had asked him to appear before the crime branch as and when required and provide the information in his possession.