‘Gave divine water to rape, pills to abort’: 7 of 11 cases against Nashik astrologer Ashok Kharat involve sexual exploitation

NASHIK: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) in Nashik will seek custody of astrologer Ashok Kharat in a second rape case after a city court on Wednesday ordered his remand in magisterial custody and he was sent to Nashik Road Central Prison in the first rape case that resulted in his arrest on March 17."We will secure Kharat's custody from the jail authorities either on Wednesday evening or on Thursday morning and will produce him before the court on Thursday or Friday to secure his custodial remand in the second case," an SIT officer said. The SIT produced Kharat before the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate B N Ichpurani and recommended a 14-day magisterial custody, stating that it was continuing its investigation and gathering evidence in the first case to file a chargesheet. The SIT sought an arrest warrant from the court in connection to the second case registered on March 21 against Kharat.The complainant in the second case, a 33 year-old-woman, has accused Kharat of sexually exploiting her at regular intervals between Feb 2020 and March 18, 2026, on the pretext of discussing her future. She alleged that Kharat would give her water laced with sedatives by passing it off as divine water and would rape her. Subsequently, when she became pregnant, he gave her some pills to abort the child, she said.The complainant said Kharat also threatened her with dire consequences and with destroying her future if she did not cooperate with him in his religious rituals.Currently, there are a total of 11 cases registered against Kharat. Seven of these are related to rape and sexual exploitation in the name of exercising divine powers and black magic. The remaining cases are of cheating, land grab and illegal money lending.In a related development, a Shirdi police team on Tuesday night reached Kharat's home in Nashik to arrest his wife, Kalpana, in the cheating and illegal moneylending case but Kalpana had left home and her whereabouts were not known to police. The team detained Kharat's son and questioned him till late night hours before letting him go.Meanwhile, the SIT had asked Nashik district govt pleader Ajay Misar for his services as special public prosecutor in all Kharat cases. However, Misar's office told the SIT he would not be able to take them up due to his preoccupation with other important cases.Misar is currently the special PP in the 2011 Opera House, Dadar, Zaveri Bazar serial bomb blast case in which 200 witnesses have already been examined. As the Bombay high court has made this case time-bound, hearings are expected be held thrice a week.Moreover, Misar is also involved in cases related to gangster Ravi Pujari and some cases of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), which the SC has made time-bound and the hearings are underway almost day-to-day in Mumbai.(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect their privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)