‘Dawood’ calls Damania: Drop cases against Khadse

Team Udayavani, Sep 23, 2017, 5:17 PM IST

Mumbai: Social activist Anjali Damania today claimed she received a threat call from a Pakistan-based number, asking her to withdraw the cases she has filed against BJP leader Eknath Khadse.

The former Aam Aadmi Party leader said the Truecaller app – which reveals caller identity – showed that the number belongs to “Dawood”.

The activist lodged a complaint with the Vakola police station in suburban Santacruz about the call. Police officials from Vakola later visited her home and recorded her statement, she said.

Damania tweeted that she received the call at 12.33 am, asking her to withdraw all cases against Khadse, from a number prefixed with +92 — the country code of Pakistan. The app flashed “Dawood 2” on the screen, she said in the tweet.

Earlier this month, Damania accused Khadse, a former minister, of making obscene remarks against her and demanded his arrest.

Khadse, however, had denied having made any such remarks against the social activist.

Damania told PTI that the caller spoke rudely to her and threatened to make her life difficult.

“I immediately spoke to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and he was prompt to assure me that the Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) will seriously look into the matter,” she added.

“I also spoke to the police commissioner. Ironically, officers from Vakola police station, which is just a five minute walk away from my home, took over an hour to reach my residence and record my statement,” she said.

Damania also alleged that the police are taking the matter “casually” and did not deem it necessary to post a policeman outside her home.

The activist, through tweets, appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh for action in the matter.

Based on Damania’s complaint, an FIR has been lodged under IPC sections 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) and 507 (criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication), a police official said.

Damania is among the petitioners who have filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court seeking action against Khadse for alleged graft.