Eknath Khadse refutes AAP's allegations on Dawood Ibrahim, but admits number belongs to him

The Maharashtra minister said, “the entire world is after Dawood. If they found out the number, they should have informed the police first.”

New Delhi: BJP lawmaker Eknath Khadse on Saturday rejected allegations that regular calls were made to him from Dawood's mobile phone, saying that those who had the underworld don's number should have gone to the police first.

“If they knew the phone number was of Dawood then why they didn't go to police? There must be something fishy going on,” Khadse said.

The Maharashtra BJP minister said, “the entire world is after Dawood. If they found out the number, they should have informed the police first.”

“People who have levelled allegations, how did they know Dawood's number? This should be enquired,” he said, adding, “In the last one year, no international call was received or made from my phone.”

He said that baseless allegations were levelled against him.

The Maharashtra government on Saturday ordered a probe after some media reports claimed that Khadse's phone number was the most-dialled number by India's most-wanted fugitive Dawood Ibrahim.

Dawood's number was revealed by Vadodara-based hacker Manish Bhangale, who had hacked the details of four phones allegedly registered in the name of Dawood's wife Mehjabeen Shaikh.

The Dawood phone hack story was widely reported in the media.

The BJP leader has denied the allegations although he accepted that the phone number in question does belong to him.

The opposition NCP and AAP parties have demanded his resignation.