Mumbai, April 3 Activist Anjali Damania alleged on Friday that at least 17 calls were exchanged between Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the rape accused, self-proclaimed godman Ashok Kharat, during an unspecified period in the past.
Some leaders from the BJP and NCP had also spoken with the self-proclaimed godman – who was arrested last month – over the phone, she told a Marathi news channel.
Reacting to the allegations, state minister Uday Samant, who belongs to the Shinde-led Shiv Sena, said that making phone calls to a person is not a crime.
Damania claimed that she received Kharat's CDR (Call Detail Records) on WhatsApp from an unknown number.
"There were 17 calls between Maharashtra Deputy CM Eknath Shinde and Ashok Kharat," she said without specifying the period, adding that the longest conversation lasted for 21 minutes.
She also claimed that according to the CDR, Kharat's wife spoke the longest on the phone with NCP leader Rupali Chakankar. There were as many as 177 calls between Chakankar and Kharat, spread over 33,727 seconds, Damania said.
Chakankar resigned as chairperson of the Maharashtra State Commission for Women after her association with Kharat came to light. The NCP leader, who was a member of the temple trust that managed Kharat's temple at Mirgaon, has claimed that she was not aware of his alleged criminal activities.
Damania, meanwhile, further alleged that there were eight calls each between Kharat and BJP leader Chandrakant Patil and NCP leader Sunil Tatkare. There was also a call between Kharat and BJP minister Ashish Shelar, she claimed.
Asked for comment, senior BJP minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule contended that there was nothing wrong with making phone calls or meeting anyone, and criminal liability is determined only by complicity in the crime.
Samant, Eknath Shinde's party colleague, took the same stand. "No one should spread misinformation that making calls or meeting someone is a crime. Shiv Sena's stand is that Kharat-like tendencies should be destroyed," he told reporters.
According to Damania, Kharat also received calls from foreign locations including Oman, the UAE, Qatar, the Virgin Islands (the US), and Christmas Island (Australia).
She has forwarded copies of the CDR to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Director General of Police Sadanand Date, and IPS officer Tejaswi Satpute, who is heading the Special Investigation Team probing the cases against Kharat, she said.
The self-proclaimed godman was arrested in March after a married woman accused him of repeatedly raping her over three years. A total of eight FIRs have been registered against him so far.
After his arrest, photos of Kharat with prominent Maharashtra politicians, including Shinde and Chakankar, went viral. Shinde, then Maharashtra Chief Minister, had visited Kharat's temple in 2022.