Nashik, April 6 A local court on Monday extended the police custody of a self-proclaimed astrologer-cum-business consultant, accused of sexually exploiting several women, until April 10, to allow recovery of data from seized mobile phones after the police identified eight victims.
The accused was arrested last week after one of the victims accused him of sexual abuse.
On Monday, the police requested the additional district sessions court to extend the accused Ravindra Erande's custody, as investigators have yet to recover data from four mobile phones. The police also presented a hard disc and a diary recovered from Erande's office in court. Furthermore, the victims in the case have been identified.
Defence lawyer Arun Donde opposed the prosecution's demand, but considering the seriousness of the crime, the court extended Erande's police custody until April 10.
Erande, who claims to be a journalist and ran a YouTube channel before declaring himself an astrologer, was arrested after a complaint he filed against some blackmailers led to the recovery of 121 obscene videos of women and his friends, police said.
In a twist to the tale, one of the victims lodged a complaint against Erande, alleging that he had sexually assaulted her on multiple occasions at various hotels with a promise of providing a government job to her son, according to the police.
Erande was arrested on Friday under sections 69 (sexual intercourse by employing deceitful means etc) and other relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS), the Information Technology Act, and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, police said.
An investigation has revealed that Erande sexually exploited several women and shot obscene videos of them.
Earlier, police had arrested four men who allegedly stole a tablet from Erande's office in Satpur and tried to extort Rs 12 lakh by threatening to release his private photographs and videos on social media.
The four men were remanded in police custody until April 7.
The investigation showed that all four accused were employees of Erande.