Khadse may land in soup over links with Dawood

Trouble is mounting for senior BJP leader Eknath Khadse who is facing charges on multiple counts, including links with fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.

Khadse, a high-profile minister in the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance government in Maharashtra led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has three charges surrounding him. 

He holds the portfolio of Revenue, Agriculture, State Excise and Minority Affairs. Firstly, his personal assistant, Gajanan Patil was caught by the Anti-Corruption Bureau, following a complaint by Ramesh Jadhav, an economist, who wanted an NOC from Khadse’s office seeking a review of the previous government order regarding allotment of a revenue land in Nilje village in Kalyan taluka of Thane district.

Secondly, his name figures in the call logs of Dawood Ibrahim, a sensational charge by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national spokesperson Preeti Sharma Menon following groundwork done by Vadodara-based ethical hacker Manish Bhangale. 

He has now moved the Bombay High Court seeking a CBI probe into the incident. 

Thirdly, a Pune-based builder Hemant Gavande had accused Khadse of purchasing the three acre land in Bhosari for a throwaway price at approximately Rs 3.75 crore from the original owner in the name of his wife Mandakini and son-in-law Girish Chaudhary. 

Gavande claimed that the market value of the land was Rs 40 crore. He had stated that the land was purchased from the original owner Abbas Ukani, a resident of West Bengal, and the MIDC, the current owner, was not aware of it.

Over the last few weeks, the Congress and the NCP have demanded sacking of the minister.A delegation of Congress led by Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam on Monday called on Governor C H Vidyasagar Rao to discuss the issue and demand action against him.