New Delhi: He projected himself as an incarnation of Hindu God Shiva and used fear, black magic and staged rituals involving remote-controlled snakes and tiger skins to extort crores from devotees. Fearing bad luck and even death, followers allegedly paid huge sums—one victim paid Rs 5.6 crore and another Rs 3.8 crore—as self-styled godman Ashok Kharat, who is already facing multiple cases related to rape, sexual exploitation and fraud, built and laundered wealth worth nearly Rs 70 crore, the Enforcement Directorate has found in its investigation.
According to the probe, once the money was received from these victims, it was laundered through nearly 60 bank accounts opened in the names of different individuals without their knowledge or consent.
ED, while seeking self-styled godman Kharat’s remand from a Mumbai court Tuesday, alleged that Kharat linked his own mobile number to these accounts and even listed himself as the nominee for several of them.
This, investigators say, was the network through which Kharat allegedly routed and concealed the massive wealth he amassed over the years by exerting influence and control over his devotees.
To launder the money, the self-styled godman allegedly created a web of benami bank accounts, cooperative credit societies (patpedhis), property acquisitions, and third-party financial instruments. The funds were then allegedly used to acquire properties and assets across different parts of the country, ED has found.
“He claimed possession of supernatural powers and special religious knowledge. He created such an atmosphere of fear that people paid up,” an ED officer said.
“He generated proceeds of crime through religious manipulation, coercion, extortion and then laundered them,” the officer said
ED told the court Tuesday that by exploiting religious sentiments and vulnerabilities of his victims, he “induced them to make substantial financial payments under the guise of performing avatar Poojas and other fabricated religious ceremonies”.
Kharat was arrested by the Nashik Police on 18 March after a woman accused him of repeatedly raping her over a span of three years.
Web of accounts, fixed deposits
According to ED, Kharat clandestinely opened 60 bank accounts at the Rahata Branch of Samata Nagari Cooperative Credit Society (Samata Pat Sanstha) in the names of various individuals, without their knowledge or consent, and linked his own mobile number and nominated himself as the nominee across all such accounts.
“Through these 60 accounts, linked to 48 special savings accounts, transactions aggregating to more than Rs 47.74 crore were conducted, comprising cash credits of Rs 21.26 crore and cash debits of Rs. 23.87 crore,” ED said.
Investigators found that all transactions were deliberately kept below Rs 2 lakh to circumvent KYC compliance norms.
“Cash was deposited and withdrawn by Ashok Kharat and his associate Arvind Bawake using pre-signed withdrawal slips obtained from account holders,” ED said in its remand note.
The probe also revealed that self-styled godman Kharat leveraged his position as vice chairman and subsequently chairman of Shri Jagdamba Mata Gramin Bigar Sheti Sahakari Patsanstha, and opened 34 benami fixed deposit accounts in the names of various fictitious persons, his own name and that of his spouse, Kalpana Kharat, during the period 2014 to 2024.
“All such accounts were opened without proper KYC documentation or account opening forms. Principal deposits aggregating to Rs 1.86 crore were made in these accounts, which upon maturity yielded proceeds of Rs 3.18 crore,” the ED told the court.
“The maturity proceeds were prematurely encashed, transferred to linked savings accounts, withdrawn in cash, and directly handed over to Ashok Kharat during his personal visits to the Patsanstha office,” ED said.
Assets, land acquisition
According to ED, this amount was subsequently utilised by Kharat to acquire land and real estate assets.
“Kharat utilised the proceeds of crime to acquire various immovable properties in his own name as well as in the names of his family members and associates, including through cash payments, thereby integrating the laundered funds into legitimate-appearing assets,” ED told the court.
“Kharat is the mastermind and primary beneficiary of the money laundering scheme under investigation,” ED said.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)