AAP wants Khadse's ouster over phone calls from Dawood's Pak house

Senior BJP leader and Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse was today at the centre of a fresh controversy with the Aam Aadmi Party alleging that calls were made from underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's mansion in Karachi to his mobile phone, a charge rubbished by him.
AAP also sought Khadse's removal from the cabinet led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Khadse, viewed as a detractor of Fadnavis, recently found himself in a spot after his 'personal assistant' was arrested for allegedly demanding a bribe of Rs 30 crore in a land settlement case.
Though Khadse has dismissed the allegations as "baseless" stating the particular telephone number was not in use for last one year, AAP spokesperson Preeti Sharma Menon claimed otherwise.

"Eknath Khadse lied about his phone being out of service. His number 9423073667 received several calls from Dawood Ibrahim's wife Mehjabeen Shaikh's number 021-35871639 between September 4, 2015 and April 5, 2016," Menon told reporters here.
The AAP leader claimed that CM has asked the Mumbai Police to investigate the matter.

She had yesterday met Fadnavis and raised the issue of call records of four landline numbers registered at the underworld don's mansion in Karachi and of Khadse's name allegedly figuring on the list.
Menon claimed today that the call details between September 5, 2015 and April 5, 2016 were procured with the help of an "ethical hacker".

The AAP spokesperson claimed that "Police Commissioner's office has contacted Bhangale who has assured all out support to police or any other central investigating agency".
"The call list of frequent internationally dialled numbers from Dawood Ibrahim's home phone also includes Eknath Khadse's number and it was a total lie that Khadse's number was not in service," she said.
Explaining how he got the call data records, Bhangale said he first went to Dubai and got Dawood's wife Mehjabeen's number, hacked it and placed call details request on her behalf to Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL).
He also claimed that "four out of 10 frequently dialled numbers belonged to Indian politicians who hold command (over) central politics".

However, Khadse said, "no international call was made from or received on this phone in last one year".
Suggesting that the number could have been cloned, he said, "I have asked the CM and Jalgaon SP to probe if any person is using this number. I have also asked the CM to initiate an in-depth inquiry into the Gajanan Patil (his 'PA') bribery issue".
State BJP has described the AAP leader's charge as
ridiculous.
"The allegation is ridiculous. AAP woke up 15 days after the news appeared in a Gujarati daily," state BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari said.
"Khadse has been proactive about the allegation and he himself has sought a probe into this," he said. Bhandari said AAP is after cheap publicity.

"What is the authenticity of the ethical hacker, which they paraded at the press conference," Bhandari asked.
He said all these things are concocted and fabricated.
"The truth will come out after a comprehensive inquiry," the BJP leader said.
Meanwhile, the Sharad Pawar-led NCP has described the AAP allegation as a "very serious issue".
"Khadse claims the phone number is not in service. The PM must sack Khadse and a thorough inquiry must take place," party spokesperson Nawab Malik said.