Mumbai/Nashik, March 22 The Special Investigation Team (SIT) investigating charges of rape, human sacrifice, and black magic against arrested Merchant Navy officer-turned self-styled astrologer and godman Ashok Kharat questioned the priest of Ishaneshwar Mahadev Temple, with which the accused is linked, and a watchman in Nashik, officials said.
A day earlier, a staff member of Kharat's office was questioned for more than seven hours by the SIT led by Indian Police Service officer Tejaswini Satpute, they added.
Kharat was arrested on March 18 for rape and other offenses on the complaint of a 35-year-old woman. She alleged that Kharat had raped her several times over a period of three years.
Since then, the investigation has revealed the alleged influence Kharat wielded among a group of political leaders, as well as transactions linked to land in Sinnar and some other areas in the Nashik district.
"On Sunday, the SIT team questioned Pramod Gadakh, caretaker priest of the Ishaneshwar Mahadev Temple in Mirgaon, and a watchman. On Saturday, it had interrogated Neeraj Jadhav, a staff member at Kharat's office, for seven hours in connection with a case registered at the Shirdi police station," the official said.
The official said CCTV DVRs have been seized as part of the investigation from Kharat's Mirgaon farmhouse, Tikde Colony bungalow, and Canada Corner office.
The official said Kharat is named in several cases filed at Vavi, Shirdi, and Sarkarwada police stations for alleged extortion, blackmail, rape, and black magic practices.
He has been charged under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act for allegedly threatening to circulate photographs of a 24-year-old woman, the official said.
The case registered at the Sarkarwada police station stems from a woman's complaint accusing Kharat of rape, human sacrifice, and black magic. He has been booked under the BNS and the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil, and Aghori Practices Act, the official added.
Incidentally, Kharat himself has filed a complaint against two persons at the Vavi police station accusing them of blackmailing him over obscene photos. The case has been registered under the BNS and IT Act, the official said.
Investigators are reaching out to potential victims, and more cases are expected to be registered against Kharat in the coming days, he said.
Sources in Nashik said that three women have approached the police. Allegations of Kharat and his kin possessing documents of 52 properties are also being probed, they added.
In a related development, state Water Resources Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil on Saturday cancelled a 2020 Government Resolution (GR) allowing Kharat-linked Shivanik Sansthan trust in Mirgaon to lift 3.9 million litres of water from the Darna Dam daily for "drinking purposes". It is alleged that Kharat diverted this water to his mango orchards.
Vikhe Patil has also ordered a probe into the antecedents of the GR that led to Kharat's trust getting dam water.
Meanwhile, officials said residents of Kharat's native Mirgaon are angry at the way the reputation of the village has got "tarnished", with some of them seeking "capital punishment" for the accused.
They also sought the seizure of Kharat's properties and the handover of the temple his trust runs to residents.
Earlier in the day, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said a high-level inquiry under the director general of police (DGP) is underway in the case involving Kharat and asserted that no one will be spared.
Fadnavis further said that while efforts are underway to politicise this case, people who have evidence to support their allegations should come forward and cooperate with the police.