Eknath Shinde and rape-accused Ashok Kharat exchanged 17 phone calls, alleges Anjali Damania

Activist Anjali Damania has claimed that Maharashtra Deputy CM Eknath Shinde and rape-accused godman Ashok Kharat exchanged 17 phone calls during a previous undisclosed timeframe.

Speaking to a Marathi news channel on Friday, Damania added that several BJP and NCP figures also communicated with the self-styled spiritual leader before his arrest last month.

In response, Shinde-led Shiv Sena minister Uday Samant argued that simply making a phone call does not constitute a criminal offense.

Damania stated that she obtained Kharat’s Call Detail Records (CDR) via WhatsApp from an anonymous source.

"There were 17 calls between Maharashtra Deputy CM Eknath Shinde and Ashok Kharat," she said without specifying the period, adding that the longest conversation lasted for 21 minutes.

According to Damania, NCP leader Rupali Chakankar spoke with Kharat more than anyone except his wife.

The activist alleged there were 177 calls between them, totaling 33,727 seconds.

Following the exposure of this association, Chakankar resigned as chairperson of the Maharashtra State Commission for Women. While she served on the trust of Kharat’s Mirgaon temple, she maintained she was unaware of any alleged illegal behavior.

Furthermore, Damania alleged that BJP leader Chandrakant Patil and NCP’s Sunil Tatkare each had eight calls with Kharat, while BJP minister Ashish Shelar had one.

Senior BJP minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule countered these claims, asserting that meeting or calling someone is not inherently wrong, as criminal liability requires actual complicity in a crime.

Samant, Eknath Shinde's party colleague, took the same stand. "No one should spread misinformation that making calls or meeting someone is a crime. Shiv Sena's stand is that Kharat-like tendencies should be destroyed," Samant told reporters.

Damania also noted that Kharat received international calls from locations like Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Christmas Island, and the US Virgin Islands.

She has reportedly sent the CDR data to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, DGP Sadanand Date, and SIT head Tejaswi Satpute, who is currently investigating Kharat.

The godman was detained in March after a woman alleged he raped her repeatedly for three years; he now faces eight FIRs. Following his arrest, images of Kharat with top politicians like Shinde and Chakankar circulated widely.

Notably, Shinde visited Kharat’s temple in 2022 while serving as Chief Minister.

Kharat opened over 130 accounts in two cooperative credit societies in Maharashtra under different names and carried out transactions worth nearly ₹63 crore in the past few years, reported PTI citing a police official.

One of the accounts was opened in the name of sister of Rupali Chakankar. These details emerged during a probe being conducted by police in Ahilyanagar district in a cheating case registered against Kharat, his wife Kalpana and three others, reported PTI.