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Karnataka: Three detained in Lingayat seer’s suicide case
Although police did not divulge any details, they said that the woman is a Bengaluru resident and is being questioned in Ramanagaram.
The Ramanagaram police investigating the alleged suicide of the Lingayat seer, on Friday detained a woman and two others in connection with the case, said an official in the know of the developments.
Although police did not divulge any details, they said that the woman is a Bengaluru resident and is being questioned in Ramanagaram.
Basavalingeshwara Swami, the 45-year-old head pontiff of the Kunchagal Bande Mutt in Karnataka’s Ramanagara district, was found dead in a room at the monastery on Monday. Police had recovered a three-page purported suicide note and registered a case of unnatural death at Kudur police station. Later, another purported suicide note was recovered on Thursday.Ramanagaram superintendent of police K Santhosh Babu said that both suicide notes left behind by the seer were three pages long.
“One note was addressed to police while another was addressed to other pontiffs and devotees. The mutt staff who saw the death note had allegedly hidden one of the notes, which we have recovered now,” the officer said.
Police on Wednesday said that four video clips involving the seer were recovered.
The three people, including the woman, who have been detained for questioning were involved in recording the video and circulating it on social media, a police official said, hinting that the seer may have been blackmailed before his death.
The official said that the videos were purposely leaked before a function, organised in mutt on October 26, for the construction of a dormitory for the mutt students. Police suspect that the plans to record the pontiff’s videos and release them were part of the internal power struggle. “During the investigation, we found that these videos were sent to other prominent pontiffs from the community, which raises the suspicion that it was a coordinated plan,” said a police officer, who did not want to be named.
Meanwhile, SP K Santhosh Babu said that the two mobile phones used by the seer were sent to the forensic sciences laboratory (FSL) to get more details. “The investigation is underway, we will disclose complete details once the probe is complete,” said Babu.
