Cheating & illegal money lending case filed against Kharat, his wife and three others in Shirdi, 2 arrested

Nashik: The Shirdi police in Ahilyanagar district have registered a case of cheating, criminal breach of trust, and illegal money lending against Nashik astrologer Ashok Kharat, his wife, Kalpana, and three others based on a complaint by a 55-year-old Rahata resident accusing the astrologer of usurping his 4-acre land at Nighoj, valued at Rs10 crore, over a loan deal.This is the 11th case against Kharat, who is in the custody of a special investigation team (SIT) in Nashik relating to a rape case. At least seven of these cases are related to rape on the pretext of using divine powers and black magic, and the remaining are of cheating. In the latest case in Shirdi, the complainant, Raosaheb Gondkar, stated that he sought a loan from Kharat to clear his prior debts. In Aug 2023, Gondkar entered into an agreement with Kharat to receive Rs5.52 crore loan. As a security, he was required to execute a sale deed for approximately four acres of his land in Nighoj. Simultaneously, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and an agreement to sell were signed, with a clause that Gondkar could buy back his land by Aug 2024 for Rs 6.07 crore.The complainant alleged that he initially provided a cheque of Rs 51 lakh as an advance towards the repurchase. Hence, he had to pay only Rs 5.56 crore till Aug 2024 along with two percent interest on the loan amount.However, over the following months, he was allegedly forced into paying amounts of Rs 90 lakh, Rs 25 lakh and Rs 50 lakh through Kiran Sonawane and Kharat's associates, the complainant said. When Gondkar recently attempted to settle the remaining balance to reclaim his land, Kharat allegedly stopped answering calls and shut his Nashik-based office.Based on the FIR, the Shirdi police have arrested two of the accused, Kiran Sonawane and Arvind Bavke. Ashok Prabhat Tambe, along with Kalpana, make up the remaining accused.Kiran Sonawane, also from Nighoj, was a friend of complainant Raosaheb Gondkar. In fact, the two of them approached Kharat at his Nashik office for getting a loan from Gondkar, as both of them had heavy debts on them. However, after the initial loan deal was finalised, on Kharat's instance, Sonawane took eight blank cheques from Gondkar, through which he got a total of Rs 1.65 crore transferred to his account to make payments to Kharat through the latter's associates. Bavke and Ashok Tambe are Kharat's associates who were present at the land dea, the police said.The Shirdi police said that the two suspects arrested by them on Monday were produced before a court, which remanded them to three days of police custody.