Nashik astrologer Ashok Kharat faces charges of extorting Rs 8.8 crore from financial adviser

NASHIK: Complaints against astrologer Ashok Kharat continued to mount with the registration of another FIR with the Sarkarwada police on Saturday, taking the total number of cases against him at the police station to 12. The police said two additional cases have been registered at the Sinnar police station in Nashik Rural, and one each at Shirdi, Rahata and Srirampur police stations in Ahilyanagar district.The latest FIR was filed by a Mumbai-based bank loan consultant, who alleged that Kharat instilled fear by claiming his parents would die unless certain rituals were performed. On this pretext, Kharat allegedly extorted a total of Rs 8.8 crore from the complainant in instalments since 2023.According to the complaint, despite paying large sums, the loan consultant grew sceptical of Kharat's claims and began investigating him. He arranged for a person to be employed as a cook at Kharat's farmhouse in Mirgaon through his driver, offering to bear the salary himself, to which Kharat reportedly did not object. Over the following months, the cook allegedly informed the complainant that Kharat frequently brought women to the farmhouse, consumed alcohol and engaged in lewd behaviour.The complaint further states that Kharat instructed the cook to switch off internal CCTV cameras during such visits and used a toy snake to deceive followers into believing he had divine powers to summon serpents.The complainant told the police that he had first met Kharat in 2017 through an acquaintance and was convinced of his supposed spiritual powers after witnessing various tricks. In 2019, he was made a trustee of the Shivnika Trust in Mirgaon, though he claimed he did not actively participate in its functioning.As doubts grew, the complainant said he interacted with other followers who shared similar suspicions. They later discovered that an office boy had placed a spy camera in Kharat's Nashik office, and the footage was subsequently handed over to the Shirdi police.The complainant said he resigned as a trustee last year. Although he had planned to file a complaint following Kharat's arrest in mid-March this year, he was delayed due to year-end financial work and eventually approached the Sarkarwada police on Saturday.The police have registered the case under relevant provisions of the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013, along with sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita relating to extortion.