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Lingayat seer complains of uneasiness a day after arrest in sexual abuse case
Police superintendent K Parashurama said Sharanaru was later produced before a magistrate, who sent him to 14-day judicial custody
Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru, the head seer of an influential Lingayat mutt in Karnataka’s Chitradurga district who was arrested on Thursday for allegedly sexually abusing two girls, was taken to a hospital on Friday after he complained of uneasiness. Officials said Sharanaru could be shifted to a hospital in Bengaluru
Police superintendent K Parashurama said Sharanaru was later produced before a magistrate, who sent him to 14-day judicial custody. He added that Sharanaru was questioned before he was produced in court and developed uneasiness soon after he was sent to jail.
Sharanaru was arrested following protests over alleged police inaction for close to a week since the sexual assault case was registered against the head seer of Jagadguru Murugarajendra Vidyapeetha Mutt. He was booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and the Indian Penal Code for allegedly sexually exploiting two girls studying in the mutt’s schools.
A group of lawyers wrote to the high court claiming the investigation “is not being carried out in an unbiased, free and fair manner.”
Police issued a lookout circular, which is done in case police suspect that someone would flee and want to keep all ports alert, as a precautionary measure against the head seer earlier on Thursday.
On Monday, Sharanaru was stopped from travelling to Maharashtra amid suspicions that he was trying to flee and asked to return to his home district. He later addressed his followers and linked the sexual assault case with an alleged conspiracy against the mutt, which is among influential centres for the politically influential Lingayat community believed to be the single largest group in Karnataka.
