Guwahati: The police have arrested Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru, the head seer of the Murugha Math in the Karnataka district of Chitradurga on Thursday night on suspicion of sexually abusing young high school girls.
Soon after his detention, sources reported that Shivamurthy had been placed into 14-days of judicial custody by the police after being questioned.
The head seer had a sexual assault case filed against him and there had been widespread protests over what they claimed was police inaction for nearly a week. In a letter to the high court, a group of attorneys complained that the investigation “is not being carried out in an unbiased, free, and fair manner.”
The head seer has been charged with violating the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (PoCSO) Act for allegedly sexually abusing girls enrolled in the mutt’s schools and staying in its dormitory.
He was then questioned by Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Anil Kumar, the case’s investigating officer, at an undisclosed location after being taken from the state’s well-known and renowned Lingayat seminaries. He was later brought before the first extra district and sessions judge at her home after receiving medical attention at the district hospital.
A District Child Protection Unit officer’s report led to the filing of a FIR against a total of five individuals, including the warden of the monastery’s hostel.