Ethical hacker Manish Bhangale alleged on Saturday that besides Maharashtra Minister Eknath Khadse, other politicians featured in the frequently dialled list of Dawood Ibrahim’s Karachi number. But he said he was unsure of their identities. Speaking to journalists, he said: “The names I have are only TrueCaller names, which I don’t think are authentic. Eknath Khadse’s name was fully spelt out on TrueCaller, which helped to confirm his ID.” “I had not named anyone even earlier. I had only furnished the list. The matter is now with the authorities. They are investigating the issue and it is up to them to reveal the other names…,” he said.
He claimed to have procured the call details for the period from September 5, 2015 to April 6, 2016 from the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited by impersonating Mehjabeen Shaikh, Dawood’s wife. The list of the most- dialled numbers had one U.K. number, four Dubai numbers and five Indian numbers.
Mr. Bhangale said he did a Google search for Ms. Shaikh’s numbers and address. Once he had the data, he used “social engineering” methods to procure the call logs and past bills for the phone numbers. “One of the four numbers [registered in Ms. Shaikh’s name] had a bill of Rs. 5,500, which made me probe further. I asked them to provide me a list of the frequently called numbers from this phone,” he said.
He said he had been working on it for the past seven months and made three trips to Dubai to get the “raw details”. “I have several sources in Dubai who helped me verify the information I had managed to get,” he said. However, he would not reveal his sources. He was ambiguous about the financial support he got and said institutions based out of India engaged in “social work” were funding his activity.
He claimed to have approached the Vadodara police with the information, but they took no action. “I have mailed the Prime Minister, but I haven’t heard from him. Officers of the CBI met me last month; thereafter, they haven’t contacted me,” he said.
He said that he was now in touch with the National Investigation Agency through an intermediary, whose name he did not reveal.
Mr. Bhangale, a Vadodara resident, hails from Jalgaon. He said he had no formal training in hacking. Calling himself an ethical hacker, he said: “I haven’t personally benefitted from these activities. I have only worked against anti-national forces.” He said he would continue hacking only if he got permission from the government.
