India, March 20 -- For over two decades since he retired from the merchant navy, Ashok Kharat, 67, cultivated an aura that charmed the wealthy and powerful such as politicians, realtors and businessmen, which strengthened his equity and helped build a sprawling asset base, which is now under scrutiny.

Kharat tested waters with a modest practice of astrology in the late 1990s, which gradually expanded into a high-profile consultancy that investigating officers of Nashik police say, operated on exclusivity, access and steep fees. Kharat - who often referred to himself as "Captain", citing his past association with the merchant navy - was fluent in English, Hindi and Marathi, and blended astrology with numerology and religious rituals, a co...