A week after an FIR was filed against him for alleged sexual assault of two young pupils, influential Lingayat mutt chairman Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru, who runs the Jagadguru Murugharajendra Vidyapeetha in Chitradurga in central Karnataka, was taken into custody from the mutt on Thursday night.
The arrest of the mutt leader was verified by Chitradurga SP Parashurama K. “Procedures will be carried out when the seer has been apprehended. He is currently being questioned, according to media reports.
Police and the state administration came under fire for allegedly acting passively in the investigation, which led to the arrest. On Thursday, a number of Dalit organisations organised demonstrations to call for the pontiff’s capture.
Everyone is aware that he is seated within the mutt, according to H Prakash Beeravara, the founder of the Bharathiya Dalitha Sangarsha Samithi, who organised the protest that stopped the Deputy Commissioner’s automobile in Chitradurga. Why won’t the cops simply arrest him? They have obviously caved in to pressure.
The pope was brought into arrest from the mutt at about 10 p.m. after meeting followers, according to police sources. He was brought to the office of the Deputy SP. He was already the subject of a police lookout notice.
The pontiff had sought anticipatory bail earlier on Thursday, and a sessions court had postponed the hearing until Friday.
In accordance with the POCSO Act and IPC section 376, which deals with rape, the Mysuru police filed a report against Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru on August 26. The state’s Child Welfare Committee (CWC) was informed by the complainant girls that they had been sexually molested between January 2019 and June 2022. Later, the case was sent to the Chitradurga police.
Based on the two girls’ comments, Chandrakumar C of the Mysuru district child protection unit filed a complaint in this matter.
Once the victims arrived in Mysuru and contacted an NGO that assists those who have been victims of human trafficking, the lawsuit was officially filed.
According to the FIR, the girls were counselled before admitting to having been sexually molested. The NGO later sought the CWC, which prompted the police complaint.
In connection with the rape case against supreme pontiff Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru, the Karnataka police questioned the hostel warden at the Jagadguru Murugarajendra Vidyapeetha math in Chitradurga on Thursday, September 1. The warden of the hostel, Rashmi, who is accused number two in the case, was questioned in relation to the claims of sexual assault against two young girls, according to Chitradurga Superintendent of Police Parashuram. He stated, “We have begun looking into the accused parties in the case one by one.
Dalit organisations besieged the Chitradurga district commissioner’s car on Thursday and asked that the seer be taken into custody. If the seer is not detained, they threatened to call on all of their employees in the state to travel to Chitradurga and hold demonstrations. Shivamurthy has filed an anticipatory bail application with a Chitradurga local court. The court postponed the hearing on the seer’s bail petition until Friday, September 1.
Political figures attended The Mutt, a well-known and significant Lingayat educational institution, in an effort to win over the neighbourhood ahead of the Assembly elections the following year.
Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru recently gave Congressman Rahul Gandhi an “Ishtalinga Deeksha.” B S Yediyurappa, the former chief minister of Karnataka, had called the accusations against the seer “false” on Sunday.
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