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.
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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.
