‘Godman’ Kharat gets four-day police custody in businessman cheating case

A Nashik court remanded self-styled godman Ashok Kharat to police custody till May 4 in a Rs 5 crore cheating case involving a Pune businessman, as investigators probe multiple allegations including financial fraud and sexual exploitation

Nashik: A court in Maharashtra’s Nashik on Friday remanded self-proclaimed godman Ashok Kharat in police custody till May 4 in the case of cheating a Pune-based businessman of more than Rs 5 crore. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) investigating the cases linked to Kharat had filed a request application in the court on April 30 seeking his custody in the cheating case, which is the ninth case against him.

In eight other cases, Kharat faces charges of sexually exploiting women. Due to security reasons, the proceedings of the court were held through video conferencing and Kharat was not produced in court in person.

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During the hearing, the police sought his custody, but the defence strongly opposed the demand, arguing that the SIT is giving the same reasons for police custody every time and that there is no strong reason for it.

However, the court accepted the prosecution’s argument that this is a different case and further investigation was required as a lot of money was involved in it. The court then remanded the ‘godman’ to four days of police custody.

In his complaint, the Pune-based businessman alleged that he sponsored the tours of Kharat to Myanmar, Greenland and the US, and gifted a Mercedes car to him as per his demand, besides giving Rs 2.5 crore for the construction of his farmhouse. An FIR, registered at the Sarkarwada police station in Nashik said Kharat took around Rs 5 crore and the Mercedes car of Rs 90 lakh from him.