Nashik: Self-proclaimed godman and astrologer Ashok Kharat, already in jail, was on Thursday arrested in a third case of rape and sent to five-day police custody.
Kharat, who was produced via video link before a court in Nashik district, is accused of sexually exploiting a seven-month pregnant woman, the wife of his office staffer, reported PTI.
Kharat was first arrested on March 18 by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) following a police complaint by a 27-year-old woman who alleged she was repeatedly sexually assaulted and threatened by the ‘godman’.
On April 8, Kharat was remanded to 14-day judicial custody in the second rape case, over allegations of repeated sexual exploitation of a 35-year-old woman under the guise of religious rituals.
Kharat, a former Merchant Navy officer, was sent to the Nashik Road Central Jail.
During the hearing of the second case, the SIT probing multiple offences against the 67-year-old ‘godman’ filed an application seeking his custody in another case of sexual assault.
Kharat faces a dozen cases, eight of them related to sexual assaults.