A first information report (FIR) was registered against Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru, the pontiff of Jagadguru Murugarajendra Vidyapeetha Mutt in Karnataka’s Chitradurga, on Thursday night alleging sexual assault of minor girls, said police.
This is the second case filed against the seer under the Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act for sexually assaulting minor girls living in the hostel run by the ashram. The first case was registered on August 25.
The complaint was lodged with the Nazarbad police in Mysuru by the Child Welfare Committee. According to the police, two minor girls, aged 12 and 14 years, were studying in the Sri Jagadguru Murugha (SJM) educational institutions run by the mutt. The complaint was lodged by the parents of the two girls who were working with the mutt,” said a senior police officer.
The girls were studying in SJM institution and stayed in the Akka Mahadevi hostel of the mutt.The seer allegedly sexually assaulted the girls who were asked to “serve the seer”.
The mother of the two minor girls (name withheld) said that she has been working at the mutt as a cook for six years and left two daughters in the Akka Mahadevi hostel run by the mutt since the family couldn’t afford their education. In the complaint, the mother said that the assault took place during the Covid lockdown in 2020 and they were sexually assaulted repeatedly.
She further claimed that the people working with the seer threatened her daughter to visit the seer inside his room.
The family approached Mysuru NGO Odanadi, which had helped the survivors in the first case against the seer to approach the police. The NGO took the minor girl to the Child Welfare Committee, who after counselling them, registered a police complaint.
The FIR under POCSO was filed against Shivamurthy Sharana, hostel warden Rashmi, young seer Basavaraditya, mutt workers Paramashivaiah, Gangadharaiah, Maha lingaiah and Karibasappa, said police.
Sharanaru, who heads the Jagadguru Murugarajendra Vidyapeetha Mutt, was arrested late on September 1 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.
The mutt is among the most influential religious centres for the politically influential Lingayat community, believed to be the single largest caste group in Karnataka.
The second additional session court Chitradurga has rejected the bail application of the Shivamurthy seer and remanded them to judicial custody till October 21. In the first order of bail rejection, judge Komala observed that the deposition of the survivors made under 164 CRPC complained that many girl students were sexually assaulted by the seer.
Sharanaru earlier claimed that the case against him is a conspiracy and said that he will come out clean. He claimed that the case was part of a long-drawn conspiracy against him. He indicated an inside job and vowed to come out clean. The seer also said he was law-abiding and will cooperate with the investigation.
Sharanaru on April 13 last filed a suit in Bengaluru city civil court seeking direction to major media houses not to publish anything about the mutt and him. But the court rejected the appeal of the seer.
