Social activist Anjali Damania on Monday raised doubts over jailed self-styled godman Ashok Kharat’s calls on the day of and after Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar’s plane crash in January. Damania released what she claimed was Kharat’s call data record (CDR). HT could not independently verify the CDR’s authenticity.
Damania pointed to calls between Kharat and Omprakash Koyte Patil, chief of Samata Credit Society, in which some of the over 100 accounts in which the self-styled godman is the nominee were opened. Police are investigating the financial transactions between Kharat and Patil.
On Friday, Damania released another CDR, claiming Kharat made calls to politicians, including deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders Sunil Tatkare, Rupali Chakankar, Bharatiya Janata Party ministers Chandrakant Patil and Ashish Shelar.
On Monday, she referred to 13 calls between Patil and Kharat from October 9 last year to January 22. Of them, eight were outgoing and three incoming. There were three messages between the two. The longest call was 7.8 minutes on December 13.
Damania said there were 73 messages from Samata Credit Society between January 27 and 31, the period of Ajit Pawar’s plane crash. “I am hopeful that more details will come out if the details are probed. What bothers me more is that the selective information comes out and not the one that should be revealed in the public interest,” she said.
Damania said the CDR details she received on her mobile from an unknown person run into thousands of pages, and she will reveal more details.
Koyate said he will check the CDR details that Damania released. “All the transactions related to Kharat in our society are legal and according to the norms and rules related to the Cooperative Societies Act. We have submitted all the details to the Shirdi Police station, which has been probing the case,” said Koyate.
Lawmaker Rohit Pawar, nephew of Ajit Pawar, demanded a probe into people related to Kharat. “Damania has revealed shocking information that large financial transactions by Kharat took place at Samata Credit Society, a day before Ajit Dada’s accident, on the day of the accident, and the day after. Considering the alleged black magi ritual performed earlier outside Ajit Dada’s house, the details now shared by Damania, Kharat’s multiple travels via VSR company aircraft, and his followers, raise growing suspicion about whether Kharat had any connection to Ajit Dada’s accident,” he said in a post in Marathi.
Rohit Pawar said the suspicion surrounding a possible conspiracy against Ajit Pawar is deepening. He said the agency probing the alleged sabotage in the plane accident should investigate Kharat and people associated with him.
Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has announced a probe into the CDR leak and an Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigation into Kharat’s assets. Fadnavis said that no one has the right to obtain CDR. “The leak of CDR in the Ashok Kharat case will be probed, and strict action will be taken. Only authorised agencies can have access to CDR. How this data was leaked and by whom will be investigated,” Fadnavis said.
He said the ED has taken cognisance of Kharat’s financial transactions. “All accounts of Kharat have come to our notice, and the transactions through them have been identified. All illegal assets and wrongdoing will be exposed,” he said.
Police are investigating the financial transactions of the Samata Credit Society and Jagdamba Credit Society. Kharat was a nominee in over 100 bank accounts, and many of them were operated using mobile numbers associated with the self-styled godman, raising suspicion about control over funds routed through them.
Police have identified over 130 accounts in the two societies, with transactions exceeding ₹62.74 crore between 2021 and 2024, now under scrutiny.
Kharat is in police custody in connection with a case involving alleged rape and forced termination of pregnancy. A Special Investigation Team is probing that matter.
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