Desk Correspondent , Mumbai - Self-proclaimed godman Ashok Kharat incarcerated under judicial custody by a Nasik court. The special investigation team brought his to a virtual court before Chief Judicial Magistrate B. N. Ichpurani after his police custody ended, and court ordered to keep him in custody till April 20. Kharat a former merchant navy is accused in sexually assault. The case came to light when the victim's husband debunked his facade although with initial disbelief on how the godman can be a fraud.

Ashok Kharat was arrested on March 17 after the seven-month pregnant women's husband installed a spy cam in Kharat's Nasik office after hearing of his misbehavior with women. He recorded objectionable videos showing the assaults, including one during a ritual at a temple in Mirgaon village in Sinnar taluka, and submitted the evidence on a pen drive to the police. The SIT presented the application citing the need for further inquiry into the sexual exploitation, which involved multiple occasions at the office and the temple site.

Kharat faces nearly a dozen criminal cases overall, eight of them related to sexual assaults on women, this shows a continues pattern of alleged exploitation by the self-proclaimed spiritual leader. During Monday’s hearing, the court also permitted the SIT to take him into custody for a fourth case, with his production scheduled for Tuesday. The development reflects the ongoing multi-case investigation by authorities in Nashik district, Maharashtra, where the godman’s influence had earlier shielded him from scrutiny until multiple complaints surfaced.