Shivamurthy Muruga Sharanaru, the top pontiff of the Murugarajendra Mutt in Karnataka’s Chitradurga district, allegedly drugged his victims earlier than raping them, based on the statements by two ladies and a lady sexually abused by him. They gave the small print of their allegations towards the seer within the cost sheet submitted by the police earlier than a district court docket just lately.
In line with the statements given by three victims, the seer allegedly sexually assaulted minor ladies at his residence and the women’ hostel, allegedly in connivance with the hostel warden, who can be an accused within the case. The ladies’ statements additionally make allusions to rape, homicide, and in a single case, a pressured abortion.
Sharanaru was arrested in September this 12 months after two ladies filed a criticism in August beneath provisions of the Safety of Youngsters from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Indian Penal Code. The 694-page chargesheet consists of statements from the 2 ladies, whose complaints led to the preliminary FIR, and a 3rd sufferer who got here ahead to voluntarily file her assertion.
In line with the chargesheet, one of many ladies, a 15-year-old on the time, mentioned that the seer used to establish college students and ask the hostel warden to ship them to him. “Claiming that he would give us tuition, we had been requested to go to his room each Sunday at 6.30 pm. After tuition, the women had been requested to comb the room,” one of many victims revealed.
The seer then allegedly spoke “properly” to her, providing her fruits and dry fruits. The subsequent time she went to his room, the seer allegedly sexually assaulted her, the lady mentioned within the chargesheet, detailing how she was assaulted.
Each day, the seer used to put in writing names and ship them to the warden, the lady mentioned. “If we refused to go, we had been verbally abused,” the lady mentioned, including that many others had additionally been abused by the seer. The lady mentioned that she begged him to let her be as she was from a poor household however he didn’t relent. “He used to combine one thing within the chocolate,” she mentioned within the chargesheet. The lady additionally talked about rumours of a woman from Bengaluru who left the hostel and was raped and murdered.
On July 24, the lady had a combat with the hostel warden after which she went to Bengaluru. Greater than a month later, she was approached by Odanadi, an NGO from Mysuru that helped her file a police criticism, she mentioned.
The chargesheet additionally consists of the assertion of one other sufferer, a 16-year-old on the time, who mentioned that after she was despatched to the seer’s room, he requested her if she knew one other lady. “After I answered within the affirmative, he instructed me that he had impregnated her,” she mentioned, including that the lady was taken to a hospital and underwent an abortion, the chargesheet says. The lady additionally recalled that the seer used to provide her one thing to eat and as soon as she was unconscious, “behave badly” along with her.
The third sufferer, a married lady who approached the police to file her assertion, mentioned the hostel warden used to ask her to go to the seer’s room at night time. “He used to provide me dry fruits or chocolate to eat,” she mentioned within the chargesheet, including that he then sexually assaulted her. The lady mentioned she would keep within the seer’s room until early within the morning and return to the hostel with the alleged assist of the guard, who would hand over the keys.
After a couple of days, the lady mentioned she was knowledgeable by Paramashivaiah, one other accused, that she was captured on CCTV coming into and leaving the seer’s room and was requested to go to a different hostel.