Eknath Khadse likely to get clean chit in Dawood call case?

MUMBAI: Eknath Khadse, who last week resigned from Maharashtra cabinet over multiple allegations of wrongdoing, is likely to be exonerated by the state police in connection with the charge that he received calls from fugitive mob boss Dawood Ibrahim, a senior official said.

The Home Department official said on the condition of anonymity that investigation into the alleged calls made to Khadse's cell phone from a Karachi-based land line (allegedly registered in the name of Dawood's wife) was almost over, and the final report may come out within a week.

"The Anti-Terrorism Squad (which probed the allegation) has received all the call data records... so far nothing significant has come out of the investigations into these call data records," the official said.

Earlier, crime branch of Mumbai police too had said the allegation, made by the Aam Aadmi Party first, had no substance.

ATS had summoned Gujarat-based Manish Bhangale, who calls himself 'ethical hacker' and who had claimed to have obtained the records of a Pakistani telecom firm, for questioning last week. But he did not turn up.

Bhangale has moved the Bombay High Court seeking a CBI probe; his petition would be heard on June 14.

AAP had cited the records obtained by Bhangale.

"The source of the information might have been fake and the agency is exploring this possibility," the official said.

Khadse has denied the allegation saying that the mobile number concerned was not even in operation for the past one year.