Nashik/Nagpur: A magistrate court on Sunday extended astrologer Ashok Kharat’s remand in police custody till April 1 in a rape case after the investigating officer cited an ongoing probe and the need for digital experts to analyse a cloned copy of his seized phone in his presence.The special investigation team (SIT) probing the case has obtained the cloned copy from the state forensic sciences laboratory. Ten FIRs have so far been lodged against Kharat, eight of which are related to rape.Assistant public prosecutor Shailendra Bagade told the court that he has so far cooperated very little with respect to details of several key aspects being probed by the SIT. He said there was a possibility that Kharat might have saved the cellphone numbers of his important contacts under aliases and the verification of cellphone data in his presence was necessary. Bagdae said investigators were establishing all movable and immovable properties Kharat was suspected to have acquired, either in his name or in the names of other persons. Bagade said in the case he was arrested for, the astrologer gave the victim some “salty and bitter water” to drink, which left her “light-headed”, before raping her. He said the SIT will investigate the source of this water and what Kharat mixed in it. Meanwhile, senior SIT officials refused to comment on reports that Rupali Chakankar, former chairperson of the state commission for women, had been summoned for questioning over her links to Kharat’s charitable trust. Chakankar was associated with it as a trustee. The day was also marked by a sharp exchange between Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar and revenue minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule over the case. Citing the shooting of the Badlapur rape suspect by police in 2024 and the death of US financier Jeffrey Epstein in jail in 2019 while facing sex trafficking charges, Wadettiwar said Kharat could be killed in police custody “to protect those in power”. He also claimed that a pen drive reportedly linked to the case could expose influential individuals. His remarks came after former minister Deepak Kesarkar claimed 39 MLAs had visited Kharat.Bawankule challenged him to submit proof of such claims to police, instead of airing them before media.
