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Court extends Lingayat seer’s judicial custody till Oct 10
The court gave the order based on the objections filed by the lawyers, whom the court had permitted to take the statement of two girls in connection with the seer’s bail. In the objection filed, the prosecution said that accused could influence the witnesses in the case
A court in Karnataka’s Chitradurga district on Wednesday extended the judicial custody of rape-accused seer Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru till October 10. Sharanaru, the pontiff of Jagadguru Murugarajendra Vidyapeetha Mutt, is in judicial custody for allegedly sexually abusing two high school girls staying in one of the hostels administered by the mutt.
Second additional district and sessions court judge B K Komala heard the case as the pontiff’s judicial custody was to end Tuesday. He was presented before the court and after its order, he was taken to the Central Jail in the district. The court had earlier rejected his plea to consider bail on medical grounds and also denied him special permission to have food from the mutt and conduct worship during the imprisonment.
The court also sent accused number 2 in the case, hostel warden Rashmi, to judicial remand till October 10.
The court gave the order based on the objections filed by the lawyers, whom the court had permitted to take the statement of two girls in connection with the seer’s bail. In the objection filed, the prosecution said that accused could influence the witnesses in the case.
Earlier, the Mysuru-based non-government organisation, which had helped two minor girls in getting the sexual abuse case registered, requested police protection for its members alleging threats from the pontiff’s followers. In its complaint to the police on September 3, NGO Odanadi Seva Samsthe had claimed its members received death threats from followers of the seer.
“Murugha Shri’s followers and pro-mutt well-wishers have been making threats to life through calls to our organisation members Stanley KV and ML Parashuram,” said the complaint letter. “We are requesting individual protection as well as security for their families.”
Two girls, aged 16 and 15, reportedly told the child welfare committee members that they were sexually assaulted between January 1, 2019 and June 6, 2022. The girls were students of a school run by the mutt in Chitradurga and lived in a hostel there. They left the mutt hostel in July this year. Based on their complaint, Mysuru police filed an FIR that was later transferred to Chitradurga.
The seer was in judicial custody for a night on September 1. He was taken into police custody for three days on September 2 and later to judicial custody till September 14.
Meanwhile, Veerashaiva-Lingayat leaders have called a meeting on September 29 to discuss the accused seer’s decision not to step down as the head of the Chitradurga mutt in spite of the serious allegations under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso ) Act and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The letter circulated among leaders of the community states that as the accused seer is not coming forward to step down, it would affect the heritage and prestige of the math, sources said.
