ED gets court nod to question ‘key suspect’ in jail in Ashok Kharat money laundering case

A court allowed the ED to interrogate key suspect Arvind Bawke in jail over a money laundering case linked to godman Ashok Kharat's alleged crimes.

MUMBAI: A special court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on Saturday allowed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to examine in jail a “key suspect” in the money laundering case linked to Nashik-based self-styled godman Ashok Kharat, who was arrested in March on charges including rape, sexual assault, promoting superstition, extortion and money laundering.

ED gets court nod to question ‘key suspect’ in jail in Ashok Kharat money laundering case

Allowing the agency’s plea, Additional Sessions Judge R B Rote permitted the ED to question Arvind Pandurang Bawke at Kopergaon sub-jail, observing that the agency sought custodial examination in a matter involving “a huge amount of proceeds of crime” and that the accused was a “key suspect” in the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR).

The court directed the jail superintendent to facilitate the recording of Bawke’s statement between April 21 and 22. It also specifically permitted ED officers to carry “electronic gadgets i.e. Mobile Phone, Laptop, Printer, Digital Devices, Pen-drive” and other materials required for the exercise.

The order noted that Bawke is currently in judicial custody in a separate FIR registered by Shirdi police, and that the ED requires his examination as part of its continuing probe into the alleged laundering of proceeds generated from predicate offences.

The ED case stems from an FIR registered by Sarkarwada police in Nashik against Kharat and others.

The court order reproduced the agency’s allegations that the suspected modus operandi involved “a mix of religious manipulation, drug-facilitated assault and sophisticated extortion”. Based on these allegations, the ED registered its ECIR on April 6, treating the extortion offences as scheduled offences under the PMLA.

Significantly, the order also records the ED’s money-trail theory, placing Bawke within the operational core of the alleged laundering network. According to the agency, Kharat caused the opening of “approximately 60 bank accounts” in the names of various individuals, with Bawke allegedly accompanying account holders and facilitating deposits of substantial cash into these accounts.

The ED further claimed that the accused “played a significant role in laundering the proceeds of crime through various modes”, a submission noted by the court while granting permission for custodial questioning.

The move indicates that the probe has expanded beyond the predicate offences to reconstruction of financial flows and fixing of roles within the alleged laundering network.

The development comes amid an expanding multi-agency investigation into Kharat and his associates. The ED on Friday carried out searches at his office and other premises, focusing on financial records, trusts and linked entities, while widening scrutiny to suspected benami assets and fund flows in Nashik.

The searches are part of the agency’s effort to trace the financial architecture behind multiple criminal cases registered against Kharat, including allegations of sexual exploitation, cheating and coercion through purported occult practices.