ED searches 11 premises in Kharat case; probe flags over 130 accounts, Solapur land buys | Mumbai News
3 min readMumbaiUpdated: Apr 14, 2026 09:35 AM IST
The Enforcement Directorate on Monday searched 11 premises in Maharashtra — five in Nashik, three in Pune and three in Shirdi – as part of its money laundering probe into self-styled godman Ashok Kharat, accused in multiple cases of sexual exploitation and financial irregularities.
The searches come as investigators examine a wide financial network of over 130 bank accounts and transactions exceeding Rs 60 crore, along with land purchases and assets linked to Kharat and his associates.
The action follows registration of ECIR on April 6, based on an FIR filed on March 25 at Sarkarwada police station, Nashik, which includes allegations of extortion, religious manipulation and drug-facilitated assault. Kharat was arrested last month in the case.
According to the ED, preliminary findings suggest that Kharat opened multiple bank accounts in the names of third parties across cooperative credit societies in Nashik district, while remaining the nominee and using a common mobile number to control their operations.
Investigators have identified more than 130 such accounts.
These include over 100 accounts linked to Samata Cooperative Credit Society, with transactions of around Rs 60 crore. The agency also identified 30 accounts linked to Jagdamba Cooperative Credit Society, with transactions of about Rs 2.7 crore. Kharat was chairman on Jagadaba credit society till 2024.
Officials said funds did not remain in a single account but appear to have moved across multiple accounts, a pattern being examined to trace how money was routed and redistributed.
Officials said the recurrence of the same nominee and contact details across accounts is being examined to determine whether they functioned independently or as part of a coordinated financial network. Deposits were often made by individuals who had visited Kharat, they said.
Land purchases
The agency claimed that money collected from victims and through extortion was invested in land purchases through chartered accountant Prakash Pophale and his sons.
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Records examined by The Indian Express show that members of the Pophale family — including Prakash Pophale and his son Lalit Pophale — appear across financial transactions, trust records and property purchases under examination.
Lalit Pophale, identified in records as a trustee of the Shivnika Sansthan trust linked to Kharat, appears in both institutional records and property transactions under examination.
In one such instance, land measuring about 4.48 hectares in Kalman village in North Solapur was purchased on March 28, 2024 for Rs 2.40 crore in the name of Kharat (as power of attorney holder for his wife).
Adjoining parcels in the same area were purchased on June 20–21, 2024 in the name of Monika Lalit Pophale for a combined Rs 6.57 crore, placing linked individuals in the same location and time frame. The area falls along the proposed Shaktipeeth Expressway corridor.
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Separate land and property records examined by The Indian Express show that at least 51 land parcels held across 11 family members are spread over 14 locations in Nashik, Ahmednagar, Pune and Raigad districts.
Of these, 27 entries are agricultural land totalling about 20.9 acres, while 24 are non-agricultural (NA) plots, development-ready parcels, with a concentration in Pathardi near Nashik, where multiple plots were acquired between 2020 and 2024.
The holdings extend beyond land to built assets, including a farmhouse complex near the Mirgaon temple, a bungalow and office premises in Nashik city, residential flats in Nashik and Pune, and a revenue-generating wedding lawn near Shirdi, indicating expansion from a temple-linked base into a distributed, multi-district asset network.
