Mumbai: He called himself ‘Captain’. He had sailed to 154 countries, he said, spent 22 years at sea, seen the world entire.
When he came home to Nashik, he built a temple in the hills of Sinnar, founded a Trust, took up the mantle of astrologer and numerologist, and began receiving the powerful. A chief minister came. Ministers came. The chairperson of the state women’s commission came–and, on at least one occasion, washed his feet.
This week, Ashok Kharat—”Captain Kharat”, godman, seer, and according to a complaint lodged with Nashik police, a serial rapist—was arrested. Investigators also found 58 videos featuring women on a pendrive in his possession. He is currently in police custody.
The FIR, lodged by a 35-year-old woman at Sarkarwada Police Station in Nashik, alleges that Kharat gained her trust by claiming divine powers. He allegedly summoned her to his city office and sexually assaulted her after giving her intoxicating drinks. The abuse, she alleged, continued from 2022 to December 2025.
Maharashtra Police has appointed a special investigation team (SIT) led by senior IPS officer Tejaswi Satpute to probe the case.
Kharat—a retired merchant navy officer who reinvented himself in the language of numerology, cosmology and spiritual guidance—is president of Shri Shivnika Sansthan, the Trust that manages the Ishanyeshwar Mahadev temple he founded at Mirgaon, Nashik.
Produced before the Nashik District Sessions Court on 18 March, he was remanded in police custody for seven days. He has been booked under sections 64 (rape) and 74 (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and under provisions of the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and Other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013.
Senior Inspector Anchal Mudgal of Crime Branch (unit 1) confirmed that one woman filed a complaint. “His background is not clear at the moment, but the investigation is still going on,” he said.
Political access
What made Kharat matter in Maharashtra’s political world was not the temple. It was who came to it.
In November 2022—five months after Eknath Shinde broke with Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena to stake out his own claim to the party—the then chief minister made the journey to Mirgaon. He was accompanied by his wife, then Revenue Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, and then Primary Education Minister Deepak Kesarkar. A photograph of the visit was widely circulated at the time.
Kesarkar, seeking to contain the resulting controversy, offered an explanation for the visit: “Captain Kharat has an Ishanyeshwar temple. Shinde sir had donated for a cowshed there.”
He had taken up construction of a cowshed in Nashik, Kesarkar told reporters at the time, and had wanted Shinde to visit the site before work began. “Captain Kharat’s profession is fortune telling, but if Shinde wanted to know the future, why would he go there? He could have called Kharat to Mumbai,” he added.
ThePrint has reached out to Shinde for comment on the controversy. The report will be updated if and when he responds.
Among those whose presence is drawing scrutiny is Rupali Chakankar, chairperson of the Maharashtra State Women’s Commission—and a named member of Kharat’s Trust.
Within hours of the self-styled godman’s arrest, a video purportedly showing Chakankar washing Kharat’s feet at a ceremony and an image of her holding an umbrella for him were circulating widely on social media.
Anti-corruption activist Anjali Damania, who shared on Twitter a document that she said listed members of the Trust’s membership, framed the question pointedly: “A video of Maharashtra State Women’s Commission Chairperson washing the feet of Ashok Kharat, who faces rape allegations? For how many years have they known this person? Their organisation? Also a mention of the position held there.”
Chakankar moved quickly to distance herself from Kharat.
“The Shivnika Sansthan Trust is the Trust of the Mahadev Devsthan, and occasionally social programmes are held there. Therefore, in connection with that, many of us had become associated with the Trust’s activities. This included many respected individuals from the society,” she wrote on Twitter shortly after his arrest.
In a separate post, she added: “I have no knowledge about Captain Kharat’s personal life or the allegations made against him. Regarding the allegations being made now, the police will investigate impartially. I have complete faith in the police investigation.”
The denial drew an immediate rebuttal from Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) party leader, Sushma Andhare, who alleged that Chakankar had known about Kharat’s conduct at least a year before his arrest—and had acted to suppress its exposure.
Sharing what she described as an apology letter extracted from a local newspaper, Andhare wrote: “Rupali Chakankar is liar number one. When the local newspaper ‘Khabardar Pudhari’ attempted to expose Kharat’s misdeeds, she threatened legal action against it and extracted an apology from him (reporter).”
Andhare added: “What will this Chakankar woman, who now claims no knowledge of this matter, have to say about this apology letter.”
Opposition turns up the heat
Kharat’s arrest has given the Opposition a target.
Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Harshwardhan Sakpal shared images of Kharat alongside Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Eknath Shinde, and Rupali Chakankar in a message addressed directly to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis: “Captain Ashok Kharat, this rapist astrologer, has a close connection with your Bhartiya Janata Party and the Mahayuti government. You’ve kept many fools like him around for your own selfish interests. Now, don’t make the mistake of trying to save him either.”
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut described the case as “The Epstein File of Maharashtra”, reposting activist Vijay Kumbhar, who framed the arrest as the unravelling of an elite protection racket.
There was also criticism from Mahayuti coalition members. NCP (Ajit Pawar) leader Rupali Thomre Patil, at a press conference Thursday, called for Chakankar to be penalised for what she termed wilful neglect.
“The courage of the fraudulent godman grew because of her support. Without backing, no criminal would have acted so boldly. If she had not asked for an apology, those women could have been saved a year ago,” she said.
Patil also demanded Chakankar’s removal, warning that her continued tenure would jeopardise the investigation. “I am 100% sure, if Mrs. Rupali Nilesh Chakankar stays on the Women’s Association, then she will change the case. She will give orders to the police, and with the consent of the police, she will destroy the video. Because this video has to be seized, and taken from the police custody, and taken to the court,” she said.
Asked about the case, BJP’s state spokesperson Navnath Ban told ThePrint the case is under investigation and the party will not protect any person found guilty. “This is about the protection of women. The party will let the police conduct their investigation independently and will not protect any persons found guilty,” he said.
(Edited by Prerna Madan)
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