In a major breakthrough, India Today has accessed call records of four landline numbers registered at underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's mansion in Karachi, Pakistan, and some Indian politicians feature on the list.

The call records are for a seven-month period starting 5 September 2015 to 5 April 2016. A data analysis of the most dialled numbers from Dawood's residence shows that sitting secure at the palatial house in Karachi, members of his family have been frequently calling numbers in India. What is most disconcerting is that prominent Indian political leaders from Maharashtra feature on the list.

These call details have been made available to the India Today Group by a Vadodara based ethical hacker Manish Bhangale and his partner Jayesh Shah, who hacked into a Pakistani telecom company's database. India Today has cross-checked the telephone numbers provided to us with senior officials from India's premier intelligence agencies who confirmed that the telephone numbers were part of the list of numbers Indian agencies believed were being actively used by Dawood and his family members.

All four telephone numbers made available to India Today are registered in the name of Dawood Ibrahim's wife Mehjabeen Shaikh. These numbers are 021-3587**19, 021-3587**39, 021-3587**99, 021-3587**99. All four numbers belong to the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL). PTCL was originally a state owned corporation but in 2006 the government of Pakistan partially divested its stake. Bills have been generated for these numbers till as recently as March 2016.

Of these four numbers, India Today analysed the 10 most frequently dialled international numbers for 021-3587**19. This telephone number has been fairly active in the last few months. In March 2016, a bill of Rs 5689.53 was generated on this number. Out of the 10 most dialled international numbers, five were in India, four were located in United Arab Emirates (UAE), while one belongs to a top international bank in the United Kingdom.

One number in particular is raising eyebrows in India's intelligence apparatus as it belongs to a senior Maharashtra leader from a major political party. When approached for a reaction, the leader asked our correspondent to send him the telephone bills which show that his number is being dialled from Dawood's residence. So far this leader has not got back to us with a formal response. India Today has decided to hold back his name till we hear what he has to say about receiving multiple calls from Dawood Ibrahim's land line in Karachi.

Dawood's telephone numbers are also part of the dossier that India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval presented to his Pakistani counterpart General Nasir Khan Janjua. However, the actual call records of the telephone numbers have never been seen in the public domain before this. Ethical hacker Manish Bhangale, who collaborated with India Today said, "I was able to get the call records of the telephone numbers registered at Dawood Ibrahim's address by hacking into the website of PTCL and typing in the Customer Identity and Exchange Code for the telephone numbers that were registered in Mehjabeen Shaikh's name. The public directories of Pakistan also show that these numbers are registered at the same Clifton address. Dawood does not have telephone connections in his own name. All the connections are in the name of his wife."

Bhangale, who has been working on this project for eight weeks now, also said, "It is very clear that Dawood and his family are in constant touch with people in India. Now the cops should investigate the numbers of the politicians and the others who are receiving calls from Dawood."

One of the four UAE numbers 0097156718**88 belongs to a prominent local security firm, which would suggest that security is one of the prime concerns for the Dawood family. Some of the numbers which have been dialled from Dawood's residence are unlisted, which would suggest that the people on who's names these phones are registered have gone to great lengths to shield their identity.

Indian agencies have started to look at the Indian angle to Dawood's phone records. While Dawood may still remain out of India's reach in the immediate future, the police can probe those who Dawood continues to remain in touch with.

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