Karnataka mutt seer booked for sexually abusing minors

The complaint, filed by Chandrakumar C of the district child protection unit, was based on the statements of two students who lived in the hostel. According to sources in the police department, the case was registered after the victims reached Mysuru and approached the Odanadi Seva Samsthe, an NGO that works for the rescue and empowerment of human trafficking victims.

The FIR states that the girls were counselled after which they revealed that they had been sexually abused. Later, the NGO approached the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) and a police complaint was filed.

The victims approached the CWC in Mysuru as they were convinced that the authorities were under the influence of the seer and the mutt which was frequently visited by political leaders.

The Nazarbad police in Mysuru registered the case under Sections 376 (2), 376 (3) and 149 of the Indian Penal Code and 17, 5 (L) and 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. According to the FIR, the minors were subjected to the sexual abuse since 2019.

The Jagadguru Murugarajendra Vidyapeetha Mutt is a prominent and influential Lingayat mutt and is frequented by political leaders in bid to woo the Lingayat community ahead of the Assembly elections next year.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had recently received the “Ishtalinga Deekshe” from Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru.

On Sunday, B S Yedyiurappa, former Chief Minister and member of the BJP parliamentary board committee, called the charges false.

Even before the police officials shared the investigation details, Yedyiurappa said: “It is a false charge. There is no truth in it and after the completion of the investigation, he will come out clean.”

Following the case, the politicians in the state made several attempts to stay away from the issue.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday said: “A POCSO case has been registered and in the meantime a kidnapping case has been registered… It is not good to speak about the issue when an investigation is under progress. Police have total freedom to look into the matter and the probe will reveal the truth.”

The kidnapping case has been filed by the warden of the hostel where the minors lived, who is one of the accused in the POCSO case. In the counter complaint, the warden has accused the mutt’s former administrator and his wife of allegedly moving the girls to a private facility after they left the hostel premises.

The counter-FIR named JD(S) leader and former MLA Basavarajan and his wife Soubhagya as the accused under IPC provisions related to wrongful restraint, wrongful confinement, kidnapping, criminal conspiracy and criminal intimidation.

While Karnataka Congress chief D K Shivakumar refused to comment on the issue, JD(S) leader and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy said he was not surprised as there had been some discussion on the matter five or six months ago. “This issue should have been taken care of at the initial stage and should not affect the religious fraternity,” he said.