Khadse Gets Death Threats, Caller Names Dawood Ibrahim, Chhota Shakeel

Mumbai: Ahead of Lok Sabha polls, Maharashtra political circle was shocked with the reports of former state minister Eknath Khadse, who has announced his plans to join the BJP again, receiving death threats by an unidentified person on the names of gangsters Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Shakeel. The senior NCP leader has lodged a police complaint at Muktai Nagar police station in Jalgaon district against the unknown caller.

According to police, Khadse received calls on April 15 and 16 from unidentified numbers. The caller mentioned the names of gangsters Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Shakeel while threatening the veteran leader.

Khadse said, on April 15, around 8 a.m., he received a threatening call saying, “I will kill you.” “At first, I thought it was a prank, so I did not take it seriously. But the calls continued with two different numbers, both seemed to have USA based numbers. The caller said I will face dire consequences and that I will be killed. On April 16 morning, I lodged a police complaint at Muktai Nagar police station against the unknown caller. I have not received any special security from the police,” he said.

Khadse, the former BJP-man, is currently with the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar). However, he had earlier this month announced that he would soon return to the BJP.

A police official said, “A case of non-cognizable offense has been registered against an unknown person under relevant provisions. At present, the police have not been able to trace the callers yet, but the investigation is underway. Earlier too, Khadse had received threat calls from the underworld.

Khadse was revenue minister in the Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP government in Maharashtra, however, he had to resign in June 2016 following cases of land-related dispute with alleged interest of his family surfaced. He had accused the state party leadership, especially Fadnavis, for his exit from the cabinet. He quit the party in October 2020 after being sidelined and immediately joined the undivided NCP. He was elected to the legislative council in July 2022.

His daughter-in-law Raksha Khadse is the sitting MP from Raver constituency, and again fighting on the BJP ticket in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.