Overview
- A Nashik court remanded self-styled godman Ashok Kharat to police custody in a sixth sexual exploitation case, with prosecutors saying he drugged a victim and used threats invoking “divine powers.”
- In a separate proceeding, the court moved Kharat to judicial custody in a fifth case, signaling parallel tracks as investigators handle multiple complaints tied to alleged sexual abuse and fraud.
- The Special Investigation Team questioned a prominent city hotelier for hours about suspected big-money transfers and land deals that could point to a wider funding network.
- Investigators are also probing whether local doctors and private sonography centers supplied abortion pills or helped conceal pregnancies, with summons expected for medical practitioners.
- Police arrested another self-proclaimed godman, Maheshgiri alias Mahesh Dilip Kakde, after a 28-year-old woman came forward; he faces rape charges and counts under Maharashtra’s anti-superstition law.