Mumbai, Sep 9 (PTI) A special PMLA court in Mumbai has taken cognizance of the ED chargesheet against self-styled godman Ashok Kharat and others in a money laundering case, noting material placed on record prima facie indicated the accused systematically generated proceeds of crime via fraudulent activities.
The court said the material depicted that Kharat, assisted by co-accused, lured people in “a consistent and systematic course of conduct” by projecting himself as an incarnation of ‘Krishna’, possessing religious, spiritual authority and having special and supernatural powers.
Special PMLA court Judge S V Sahare issued summonses to Kharat and five other accused in the case after taking cognizance of the prosecution complaint (chargesheet) on Tuesday.
They have been asked to appear before the court on September 22.
The prosecution complaint was filed in July before the PMLA court in Mumbai, naming Kharat, his wife Kalpana and four others as accused in the money laundering case, according to an ED statement.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has claimed Kharat, currently in jail under judicial custody, was the mastermind and primary beneficiary of over Rs 47 crore laundered money under investigation by the central agency.
The ED filed a case against Kharat under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on April 6, taking cognisance of a Nashik police FIR registered against him on charges of extortion, religious manipulation, and drug-facilitated assault on multiple women victims.
Kharat and his co-accused gathered huge amounts of illegal assets, thereby committing scheduled offenses under PML Act, the court order mentioned.
“The material further reveals that other accused persons have actively aided and abetted the A-1 (Kharat) in the said activities,” the court remarked.
Judge Sahare stressed investigation prima facie established that all the accused have generated proceeds of crime from the predicate offences, projected the same as untainted property and thereby committed the offence of money laundering as defined under the relevant provisions of the PMLA.
Thus, the court observed it was satisfied there were sufficient grounds to take cognizance against all the accused persons and to issue process against them.
The financial crime investigation agency has accused Kharat, a resident of Nashik district in north Maharashtra, of orchestrating a massive extortion and money laundering racket through a web of ‘benami’ bank accounts.
Benami bank accounts are those held in one person’s name, while the money is provided or legally owned by another individual.
The ED discovered that Kharat clandestinely opened 60 separate bank accounts at the Samata Nagari Cooperative Credit Society in Rahata town, Ahilyanagar district, using the documents of his devotees without their consent.
Across these 60 accounts, Kharat systematically rotated Rs 47.74 crore in cash transactions between 2021 and 2026, the probe agency claimed and added 43 of these were opened on a single day in May 2021.
As per the probe agency, he generated proceeds of crime through systematic extortion and religious manipulation. Thereafter, he transferred the proceeds through a sophisticated network of benami bank accounts, cooperative credit societies, and family members’ accounts.
Kharat was first arrested by the Nashik police on March 18 after a married woman accused him of repeatedly raping her over a period of three years. Later, more complaints surfaced against him.
Subsequently, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed by the Nashik police to probe a dozen cases of sexual exploitation and financial fraud registered against Kharat in Nashik and Ahilyanagar districts. PTI AVI RSY
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