A Mumbai court granted the Enforcement Directorate permission to arrest self-styled godman Ashok Kharat in connection with a Rs 70-crore money laundering investigation after he was produced in the court on Tuesday.

Kharat, who was arrested by the police in March following multiple sexual assault complaints, was brought from Nashik jail after a special court issued a production warrant for him on ED’s plea.

“Production of Mr Ashok Kharat is… necessary to identify the ultimate beneficiaries of the proceeds of crime who have acquired, possessed and utilised the proceeds of crime. Further, he is the main person who extorted the money from the victims spanning across Maharashtra through religious manipulation,” the ED plea for his production said.

Kharat is expected to be arrested in a few hours, after ED completes mandatory formalities, including informing him about the grounds of arrest.

Special public prosecutor Arvind Aghav, appearing for ED, submitted to the court that Kharat’s custody was necessary to investigate the trail of the proceeds of crime.

ED informed the court that during searches conducted at Kharat’s residential and office premises in April, documents related to real estate businesses and properties were found and that they were being scrutinised to trace the money trail.

ED further said that Kharat had extorted huge amounts of money from his “devotees/victims” and that his custody was needed to investigate others linked with him. It said the godman had invested money collected from his victims in real estate, either in his own name or that of his family members.

Kharat had allegedly opened 60 bank accounts in the names of various individuals, with his own mobile number linked to them and with him as the sole nominee. ED said the investigation showed that Kharat got 43 accounts opened in one day with a co-operative credit society in 2021. These accounts were opened using documents of “devotees” and others, without their consent, with transactions of more than Rs 70 crore seen in them, it alleged.

The other FIRs against Kharat, registered at various police stations, claim that victims were duped through deceptive practices and the sale of items with purported “divine healing powers”, like wild tamarind seeds, at a high value.