Chitradurga Muruga Mutt seer accused in POCSO case walks out of judicial custody

The pontiff was accused of sexually harassing children in his mutt and he was later booked under the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) act.

Published on: Nov 16, 2023, 16:30:44 IST

By HT News Desk

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Almost after a year of being in judicial custody, Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru, the pontiff of Chitradurga’s Murugharajendra Bruhanmutt got released on bail on Thursday afternoon. The pontiff was accused of sexually harassing children in his mutt and he was later booked under the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) act.

Chitradurga Muruga Mutt seer accused in POCSO case walks out of judicial custody

Also Read - HC grants conditional bail to Muruga mutt’s chief pontiff in Pocso case

Initially, Sharana was granted bail by the Karnataka High Court on November 8. Seeking fulfilment of the bail conditions, Sharana’s counsel Sandeep Patil, approached the sessions court. After verifying the security guarantee, judge BK Komala ordered his release. However, the legal dispute escalated after Sharana’s lawyers challenged the court’s decision to convert the body warrant into a judicial arrest warrant in the other POCSO case. The dispute is now cleared, and the Sharana walked out of judicial custody.

The case began on August 26, 2022, when two girls filed a complaint at the Nazarbad Police Station in Mysuru accusing Muruga Sharan of sexual assault. Subsequently, Sharan was taken into custody on September 1, 2022, and remained under judicial custody in Chitradurga Jail until the recent bail decision.

Sharanaru, who heads the Jagadguru Murugarajendra Vidyapeetha Mutt, was arrested late on September 1 2022 after days of intense public pressure. He is accused of raping two girls, 15 and 16 years old, between 2019 and 2022, and was booked by the police for rape under the POCSO Act 2012 on August 25.

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