India, March 27 -- There is a striking paradox at the heart of the Ashok Kharat story. The 67-year-old self-styled 'astrologer-godman' from Nashik now being probed by the Fadnavis government for rape and extortion, failed math in Class 10 board exam but earned his stripes as a numerologist who advised thousands-including Maharashtra's top politicians-- on how to run their business, personal and political affairs.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) that's probing Kharat-not just the cases against him but veritably his whole history-found that the numerologist had scored 28 out of 100 in his Class 10 math paper.

Kharat, against whom there have been 8 complaints of rape, sexual assault and cheating and extortion in the last 10 days, was ...