Chitradurga police have filed a cost sheet in opposition to three folks, together with Sri Jagadguru Murugharajendra (SJM) mutt erstwhile pontiff Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanu, in reference to the primary case of sexual assault.
Police are but to reveal the small print and mentioned that they submitted the sufferer’s accounts and different associated proof within the case.
Sharanaru is at the moment in Chitradurga jail since he was arrested in a sexual assault case beneath the Safety of Youngsters Towards Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act on September 1.
The 2 ladies, aged 16 and 15, on August 25 instructed the kid welfare committee members that they had been sexually assaulted between January 1, 2019, and June 6, 2022 by Sharanaru. The women had been college students of a college run by the mutt in Chitradurga and lived in a hostel there. They left the mutt hostel in July this 12 months.
The identical day, the police registered an FIR in opposition to the seer, charging him with rape beneath provisions of the Pocso Act.
However regardless of rising outrage and the seriousness of the costs, for seven days, the police didn’t transfer to interrogate the seer or take him into custody.
A number of politicians, together with former chief minister BS Yediyurappa and a bit of the state cupboard, publicly backed him and mentioned the costs had been linked to an influence tussle inside the monastery.
After intense public stress and hypothesis that the federal government was dragging its ft for political causes, the seer was lastly arrested late September 1 after his anticipatory bail was deferred by a neighborhood courtroom.
Aside from this, on October 14, a second FIR was filed in opposition to Sharanaru, alleging youngster sexual abuse. That is the second case filed in opposition to the seer, beneath the Pocso for sexually assaulting minor ladies dwelling within the hostel run by the ashram. The primary case was registered on August 25.
In accordance with the police, two minors (aged 12 and 14 years) had been learning within the Sri Jagadguru Murugha (SJM) academic establishments run by the mutt. The criticism was lodged by the dad and mom of the 2 ladies, who had been working with the mutt, mentioned police.
As per the criticism, the women had been learning in SJM establishment and stayed within the Akka Mahadevi hostel of the mutt. Throughout this time, Sharanaru allegedly sexually assaulted the women who had been requested to “serve the seer”.
This case is beneath investigation.