Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sept 2: The chief pontiff of Murugha Math, Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru, a religious leader of Karnataka’s politically powerful Lingayat community, who was arrested on Thursday over rape charges and was shifted to the district hospital for treatment on Friday morning after he complained of chest pain, has been remanded to four days police custody,
According to police sources, the seer experienced uneasiness on Friday morning and the prison staff immediately rushed him to district hospital in Chitradurga where various tests are being conducted as per doctors’ advice.
He was taken to the local court on Friday evening on a wheelchair from the intensive care unit of the hospital in Chitradurga, 200 km from Bengaluru. The police had sought to keep the seer for five days for questioning but was granted four days custody.
The court criticised the police for not informing it that the seer has been shifted to a hospital from the jail. It told the jail authorities to give the medical reports. The police will have to ensure medical care to the seer in their custody, and he should be taken to hospital only if his health condition worsens, the court said.
Another accused, Rashmi, has been arrested and three more are on the run. The Murugha Math which the 64-year old Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru heads, is one of the key Lingayat seminaries. He has been named in a case under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and under the law protecting Scheduled Castes and Tribes, after two minor girls, including one belonging to the dalit community, accused him of rape.
The case was filed on August 26 after the girls – both students of Murugha Math – approached a non-governmental organisation in Mysuru. The two teens had alleged that they were abused for years. The arrest took place around 10.15 pm on Thursday after day-long protests by the civil society and social organisations across Karnataka’s Chitradurga and Mysuru districts.
The police exercised extreme caution in view of law and order issues – barricading the front door of the mutt hours before the arrest and taking him out by the backdoor. Immediately after the arrest on Thursday, the police had taken him for medical examination before producing him before the judge, who remanded him in judicial custody for 14 days.
Speaking to press persons after handing over the custody of the seer to the prison authorities during the wee hours of Friday, Superintendent of Police K. Parashuram said they planned to move the court seeking police custody of the seer for questioning. He clarified that there was no delay in the arrest of the seer and but it took time as they had to collect supportive evidence for the arrest of the main accused.
He said already the warden of the hostel run by the Mutt had been taken into custody for questioning and she had been lodged in the “Santvana Kendra.” Notices would also be issued to the three others accused in the case asking them to appear for questioning and steps would be taken to trace them, he said.
The warden had filed a complaint against Basavarajan, the administrator of the mutt (who has now been dismissed), and his wife alleging sexual harassment and kidnap of girls. The couple was granted bail on Thursday. A group of lawyers on Thursday wrote to the Registrar General of the Karnataka High Court claiming that the investigation into the rape allegations “is not being carried out in an unbiased, free and fair manner.”
In the wake of speculation about him being detained following his ‘disappearance’ from the mutt on August 29 morning, the seer Sharanaru had returned to the premises after noon. He clarified that there was no question of escaping and being a law-abiding citizen, he respects the law of the land.
Addressing media persons and also a large number of the devotees, who had gathered at the mutt following speculation about his arrest, from the first floor of the mutt, the seer said, “I am among those seers who believe in the law of the land and respect it. I will extend all cooperation. There is no intention of evading the law,” he said.
“We are in a place of justice and Murugha mutt, once upon a time, served as a ‘mobile court’. The mutt has taken care of members of all castes and communities, including students, with love and affection. There is an untoward development now and an unhealthy situation, But, I am confident that I will come out of it,” he said. Murugha Sharanaru appealed to devotees and followers not to pay attention to rumours and speculation, and they should respect the law of the land.
The seer thanked the devotees who had turned up in the mutt in the thousands. “Your arrival has given me more courage and strength. I would like to thank those who are responsible for this show of love and affection. This development has rekindled the pride towards the mutt among the devotees,” he said.
Branding the complaints of rape against him a “conspiracy,” the seer had said, “This is not the first time that such a development has taken place. Over the last 15 years, such conspiracies were happening within the mutt and now one had come out. The time has come to face the tough times together and in an intelligent manner. There would be a logical end to every issue,” he said.