Social activist Anjali Damania on Friday (April 3, 2026) claimed that top politicians, including Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Minister Sanjay Shirsat, Uddhav Thackeray’s close aide Milind Narvekar, were on the dialling list of arrested godman Ashok Kharat. Kharat is currently lodged in a prison in Nashik over allegations of black magic, rape, land grab, etc.

There were 17 calls between Eknath Shinde and Ashok Kharat. Of them, 10 calls were made from Kharat to Mr. Shinde, while seven calls were made by Mr. Shinde to Kharat, Ms. Damania claimed on the basis of the CDR she claimed to possess. Of the 17 calls, one call lasted for 21 minutes.

The maximum number of calls were between NCP leader Rupali Chakankar and Ashok Kharat. There were 177 calls between the duo. Ms Chakankar’s sister too spoke with Kharat 236 times.

Apart from these calls, there were conversations with NCP state president Sunil Tatkare, BJP ministers Chandrakant Patil and Ashish Shelar. Shiv Sena UBT leader Milind Narvekar, who is considered to be a close aide of Uddhav Thackeray, also spoke with Kharat on several occasions, Ms Damania said. She said that telephonic conversations took place with a senior IPS officer as well.