Claims of 17 phone conversations between Eknath Shinde and impostor Kharat spark political storm in Maharashtra.:Anjali Damania said that there were 177 phone conversations between Ashok Kharat and Rupali Chakankar.

News Topical, Digital Desk : Social activist Anjali Damania has claimed that there were around 17 phone conversations between Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and rape accused impostor godman Ashok Kharat.

Speaking to a Marathi news channel, he also claimed that some leaders of BJP and NCP had also spoken to Kharat, who was arrested last month, over the phone.

Responding to the allegations, state minister Uday Samant, a leader of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, said that calling someone is not a crime.

Damania claimed that he received Kharat's call detail records (CDRs) on WhatsApp from an unknown number. He did not specify the duration of these phone calls. He also said that the longest conversation between the two was 21 minutes.

It is claimed that according to the CDR, Kharat had the most conversations with NCP leader Rupali Chakankar after his wife.

According to Damania, there were a total of 177 phone conversations between Chakankar and Kharat, with a total duration of 33,727 seconds.

After her relationship with Kharat came to light, Chakankar had resigned from the post of chairperson of the State Women's Commission.

Damania also alleged that there were eight phone conversations between Kharat and BJP leader Chandrakant Patil and NCP leader Sunil Tatkare.

Apart from this, it was also claimed that there was a phone conversation between BJP minister Ashish Shelar and Kharat once.

Reacting to this, senior BJP minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule said that there is nothing wrong in meeting or talking to someone on the phone. Criminal responsibility is established only when involvement in a crime is proven.

Kharat was arrested in March after a woman accused him of raping her multiple times over three years. A total of eight FIRs have been filed against him so far.