'Godman' Ashok Kharat gets 14-day judicial custody in second rape case

Nashik: A court in Maharashtra's Nashik district on Wednesday remanded self-styled godman Ashok Kharat in judicial custody till April 21 in a second rape case in which he allegedly sexually exploited a woman on multiple occasions since 2020 under the guise of religious rituals.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT), which is investigating the cases against him, produced Kharat in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate B N Ichpurani as his police custody in the second case ended on Wednesday.

Due to security reasons, Kharat was not produced in court in person and the proceedings were held via video conference.

During the hearing, when the court asked Kharat his name, he told the name with folded hands. The SIT presented the remand report and sought his judicial custody in the case. The court then sent him in 14-day judicial custody till April 21.

Kharat will now be sent to the Nashik Road Central Jail.

Kharat was arrested on March 17 after a 35-year-old woman lodged a rape complaint against him at the Sarkarwada police station in Nashik district in north Maharashtra.

Accordingly, a case under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023 and the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and Other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013, was registered against him.

The victim in the second case was in contact with Kharat since 2013 when she first met him on the advice of a relative to fix her marriage. Even after her marriage, he was in contact with the woman under the pretext of providing solutions to her family problems and exploited her sexually, according to the complaint.

The woman, who has two children from the marriage, later separated from her husband due to marital discord. When she again contacted Kharat to discuss her future and remarriage prospects, he started exploiting her sexually, the woman alleged in the complaint.

He called her to his office and raped her under the pretext of religious rituals. When she became pregnant, he gave her pills and forced her to abort her pregnancy, as per the complaint.

Kharat sexually exploited the woman since February 2020 and threatened to destroy her and her children's lives if she resisted his moves, it said.

After Kharat's misdeeds came to light following the registration of the first rape case, the woman mustered courage and lodged a police complaint on March 21.

Kharat is facing 12 criminal cases in Nashik and Ahilyanagar, including eight for sexual assault.

The SIT has filed a request application to the court demanding Kharat's custody in the third case of sexual exploitation. He will be produced in the court in this case on April 9.

The 'godman' heads a temple trust at Sinnar in Nashik district and met several political leaders over the years. After his arrest, photos of Kharat with prominent politicians went viral, causing a political firestorm in the state.