Activist and former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Anjali Damania yesterday claimed to have received death threats in a call made from a landline number in Karachi.
“At 12.33am, I got a threatening call asking me to withdraw all cases against (former Bharatiya Janata Party minister) Eknath Khadse,” Damania said in a statement.
She said the person told her: “Tune jeena haram kar rakha hai sabka. Teri family hai na... (You have made life miserable for everybody. You also have a family).”
Damania said the number (starting with codes +92 21) was from a landline in Karachi.
She spoke with top officials and lodged a complaint with the Vakola police station in Santacruz east yesterday morning.
“Informed Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) is investigating the matter,” she tweeted later.
Khadse, the most senior BJP leader in Maharashtra, resigned as the revenue minister in June 2014 after his name cropped up in a dubious land deal in Pune.
Subsequently, Damania had also accused Khadse of allegedly favouring certain contractors in the multi-million rupee irrigation scam which is under investigation. Earlier in September, the Vakola police had booked Khadse for allegedly making “obscene’ remarks” against Damania in a speech at a public function.
Damania at the time alleged that Khadse passed objectionable comment about her. She was informed about the speech by an associate of her in Jalgaon. Following this, the activist demanded that police file a case against the BJP leader and even camped at the Vakola police station.
The AAP has strongly condemned the incident and demanded that since the matter concerns a number said to belong to a fugitive don like Dawood Ibrahim, the investigation must be handed over to specialised agencies like the Research and Analysis Wing (RA&W) or the Intelligence Bureau (IB).
AAP national spokesperson Preeti Sharma Menon said: “This kind of investigation is completely inadequate and the investigation must be handed over to specialised agencies like the RA&W or IB as this number is said to belong to Dawood Ibrahim.”
She pointed out that an ethical hacker Maneesh Bhangale had said in the past that the number belongs to Dawood’s wife Mehajabeen Shaikh and is registered in Karachi.
However, Bhangale was later arrested for making false claims and the Cyber Police are still probing him in the matter while Khadse was given a clean chit.
“This call to Anjali Damania is on Eknath Khadse’s behalf from Dawood’s residence. What more proof is required that Khadse and Dawood work together? What is more important is that the state has totally failed to provide safety to activists and journalists and we fear for the safety of Anjali Damania and her family,” Menon said.
She demanded that the probe should be handed over to a national agency which cannot be influenced by Khadse the way in which the state agencies were influenced in the past.
Damania: claims getting threatening call
