Murugha Mutt seer sentenced to three days in police detention for raping minors; hostel warden also detained

In a case involving the rape of two juveniles, a court in Karnataka’s Chitradurga district on Friday sentenced Shivamurthy Sharanaru, the head seer of the famous Murugha sect, to three days in police prison.

The Jagadguru Murugharajendra Vidyapeetha’s head, Shivamurthy, was detained on Thursday night, a week after being charged with rape and violating the POCSO Act in response to a complaint from two minors who slept at the mutt’s maintained school dormitory. The hostel warden was also detained on Friday and was placed in judicial detention by a judge.

After the seer’s arrest on Thursday night, police requested custody of him from the extra district and sessions court. The pontiff was hospitalised after complaining of chest trouble, according to prison officials, who judge BK Komala contacted for information.

The judge requested the jail supervisor to appear in court after noting that she was not informed that Seer had been transferred from the jail to the hospital.

The jail director showed up afterwards and announced that the pontiff needed to be taken to a Bengaluru hospital. The jail superintendent failed to provide any records regarding the seer’s health, so the judge requested that they turn him over.

Shivamurthy was brought into the court at 4:05 p.m., where he sobbed. He was given to the police by the judge for a three-day period with instructions to be watched over in terms of his health.

On September 5, at 11 a.m., Shivamurthy will be produced before the court.

The pontiff was transported once more to the district’s public hospital. He will be interrogated after receiving permission from the physicians, according to sources in the police.

The second defendant in the case is the warden. When the two girls brought up their sexual assault, the warden allegedly beat them up, according to a police officer.

The warden was interrogated by Chitradurga district police on Thursday, and she was formally taken into custody on Friday.

The youngsters informed the state Child Welfare Committee’s members that they had been sexually molested between January 1, 2019, and June 6, 2022, prompting the Mysuru police to initiate a case. Later, Chitradurga district police received the complaint.

In a separate complaint, the warden accused former JD(S) MLA Basavarajan and his wife Sowbhagya of kidnapping the children and harassing her. The pair was granted bail on Thursday by a court.