Mumbai, April 6 The Enforcement Directorate has registered a money laundering case against self-proclaimed spiritual leader Ashok Kharat in Maharashtra, and will soon question him, officials said on Monday.
The federal agency's Mumbai zonal office has filed an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, they said.
Officials said the ED has taken cognizance of multiple FIRs filed by the Maharashtra Police against Kharat, based in Nashik. He, along with some other individuals linked to him, will be questioned by the ED soon, officials said.
The self-proclaimed spiritual leader-cum-astrologer was arrested in March after a married woman accused him of repeatedly raping her over three years.
The state police have registered a total of eight FIRs against him so far.
A subsequent investigation uncovered a host of crimes, including sexual assault and financial irregularities linked to land, the opening of accounts in some cooperative credit societies, and other properties.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, speaking to reporters in Nashik on Sunday, said, "All accounts of Kharat have come to our notice, and the transactions through them have been identified."
"I am firmly convinced that all illegal assets and wrongdoing will be exposed," he said.
