Palghar ‘godman’ booked for rape; complainant mustered courage after Kharat case

A self-styled godman from Maharashtra’s Palghar district has been booked for allegedly raping a 35-year-old woman after claiming to be an incarnation of Lord Shiva, an official said on Friday (March 27, 2026).

The woman gathered the courage to file a complaint against the 40-year-old accused after the recent arrest of former Merchant Navy officer and self-styled godman Ashok Kharat in Nashik, he said.

Police said the woman, a Pune resident, first came into contact with the accused through Facebook in 2023.

“In December of that year, the accused visited Pune to meet the woman. He allegedly deceived her by claiming he was an incarnation of Mahadev [Lord Shiva] and that she was his ‘Parvati’,” said the official, citing the FIR.

The complainant alleged that the man took her to a lodge in the Manjari area of Pune, where he administered a numbing substance before raping her. During the assault, the accused allegedly took photographs of the woman without her knowledge.

The woman told the police that the accused, who runs a social organisation in Palghar district, used the photographs to blackmail her. In May last year, he allegedly called her to a hotel in Vasai and attempted to sexually assault her again.

Senior inspector Hiralal Jadhav of the Manikpur police station said the woman decided to come forward after the “Captain” Kharat case from Nashik gave her the courage to share her ordeal.

As the primary offence allegedly took place in Pune, the Manikpur police registered a ‘Zero FIR’ on Wednesday before transferring the probe to the Hadapsar police station in Pune for further investigation, he said.

A Zero FIR is a first information report that can be filed at any police station in India, regardless of where the crime occurred or which station has jurisdiction.

The complainant has also alleged that the accused has lured and sexually exploited several other women using a similar modus operandi. Efforts are being made to apprehend the accused, the official added.