Dawood link: Hacker claims email hacked, evidence against Khadse stolen

The hacker who claimed he had evidence that Eknath Khadse was in contact with Dawood Ibrahim, on Tuesday lodged a police complaint saying he lost all evidence after his own email ID was hacked

Erstwhile revenue minister Eknath Khadse can breathe a sigh of relief. The hacker who claimed he had evidence that Khadse was in contact with wanted gangster Dawood Ibrahim, on Tuesday lodged a police complaint saying he lost all evidence after his own email ID was hacked.

Also Read: My number was cloned: Eknath Khadse

Manish Bhangale had earlier claimed that he came upon Khadse’s D link after hacking the website of Pakistan Telecommunications Company Ltd

Gujarat-based ethical hacker Manish Liladhar Bhangale had earlier claimed that he came upon Khadse’s D link after hacking the website of Pakistan Telecommunications Company Ltd (PTCL). However, two days ago, he approached the Kasarvadavli police, as well as the Thane Commissioner of Police Param Bir Singh, alleging that he had been hacked to protect former minister Khadse.

Read Story: Ethical hacker who revealed Khadse's links with Dawood ready for probe

Bhangale claimed that he had saved evidence regarding Khadse’s conversations with Dawood in the email ID ‘Mehjabeenshaikh918@gmail.com’. But on Monday, he found he could not log into it. When he tried to recover the email, he was redirected to another email ID (atulparmar31891@gmail.com), as well as a mobile number. “I called up the mobile number but the person threatened me and asked me to withdraw the petition I lodged against former minister Eknath Khadse,” Bhangale told mid-day.

Evidence
“PTCL had confirmed the Indian numbers that had called on the Pakistani landline of Mehjabeen Shaikh – Dawood’s wife. There were bill copies of her landline number that showed five Indian numbers, which called frequently at the Dawood home and Khadse was one of them. There were several chats between PTCL officials and me posing as Dawood’s wife, but all that communication was also lost after my email ID was hacked,” he added.

This comes just days before Bhangale’s PIL was to be heard by the Bombay High Court on July 18. In the previous hearing, his counsel Sandesh Sawant had claimed they were going to submit more evidence in court. Considering the seriousness of the matter, the state had appointed senior counsel Nitin Pradhan to represent it.

An officer from Kasarvadavli police station said, “We will forward the complaint to the cyber cell of Thane Police to verify its authenticity.” Meanwhile, Bhangale has also written to the Director General of Police.

False claims?
However, sources in the Anti-Terrorism Squad claim that Bhangale is fabricating a false case because he doesn’t have the evidence and fears being arrested. “The matter was to come before the High Court, but since he had less evidence, he has made this compliant, which seems fake,” claimed an ATS officer.

Also Read: Eknath Khadse denies receiving calls from Dawood's residence

The Crime Branch already gave a clean chit to the minister on May 22. The PTCL bills submitted by Bhangale looked morphed, said officials, adding that although the Crime Branch had questioned him twice, they did not have the expertise to check the authenticity of such bills, so investigations were still in the initial stages then.

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