The Congress and NCP have intensified their attack against revenue minister Eknath Khadse and demanded his resignation in connection with the calls made on his alleged number from a telephone number i
The Congress and NCP have intensified their attack against revenue minister Eknath Khadse and demanded his resignation in connection with the calls made on his alleged number from a telephone number in Pakistan, which is reportedly registered in the name of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’s wife. The Opposition has questioned the clean chit given by the police to the minister without any verification. However, Mr Khadse has denied the charges and said he had not been using the particular number for the past one year.
The police has also said that there was no call made or received on the said number of Mr Khadse from the said Pakistani number in the last one year.
Terming the controversy as a serious matter, NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik questioned the immediate clean chit given to the minister by the police without complete investigation. “The police is still investigating the matter, then how come Khadse was given a clean chit It is a matter of national security and Khadse must step down. In fact, the senior BJP leaders should sack him for unbiased probe,” Mr Malik said. On Saturday night AAP leader Priti Sharma Menon alleged that Mr Khadse received calls from Dawood’s number.
Joint commissioner of police (crime), Atulchandra Kulkarni, had said in the official statement: “When the issue of contact of honourable minister of government of Maharashtra with Mumbai fugitive Dawood Ibrahim based abroad cropped up today in a press conference, we checked the details and our initial analysis of the cell phone number indicated that there have been neither outgoing nor incoming calls from this cell number to that of the fugitive during the entire period of September 2015 to April 2016 as mentioned in the press conference.”
However, Congress has also raised doubts over the clean chit. “The matter has become more suspicious with the police’s immediate clean chit to Mr Khadse. How can he get a clean chit without even inquiry Even the CM has gave him a clean chit like he had earlier given to tainted BJP ministers,” Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said.
Mr Khadse, in his clarification on the issue, said that the allegations were baseless. “The mobile number quoted by AAP has not been in use for a year. No international call was received or made on this number. I got the proof from the telecom company about this. There is a possibility that the number was cloned and misused. In fact, I have demanded that the chief minister order a further probe in the matter if someone is misusing the number,” Mr Khadse said.
