Karnataka excessive court docket on Friday allowed the rape-accused Lingayat seer Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru to signal cheques for monetary transactions of the mutt. A bench headed by justice Nagaprasanna handed the order after a petition was submitted claiming that the mutt was unable to pay the salaries of its staff because the seer was arrested in a sexual abuse case.
The bench has allowed the accused seer to signal the cheques on October 3, 6 and 10. The person who takes signatures ought to receive permission from the district commissioner. Through the course of, the investigating officer and jail superintendent must be current and later submit the photocopies of the cheques to the court docket, the bench stated.
The court docket additionally stated that the order will likely be relevant just for October and directed the counsel to make preparations for the switch of the facility of legal professional another person and submit a petition to the native court docket on this regard.
On September 21, the seer’s lawyer, Sandeep Patil, had approached Chitradurga classes court docket. He had argued that the seer’s signature was essential to launch the salaries of round 3,500 staff of SJM Vidyapeeth, the chain of instructional establishments run by the mutt. As per the petition, Sharanaru is the one trustee of the mutt. He has to signal 200 cheques to launch the wage of the staff.
The classes court docket, nonetheless, denied the permission. Opposing the attraction, public prosecutor M Nagaveni argued that if the court docket grants permission to signal the paperwork in jail, there could also be a risk of misappropriation of property and belongings belonging to the mutt. After the classes court docket rejected the attraction, the seer moved to the excessive court docket.
HT had earlier reported that the members of the Veerashaiva Lingayat neighborhood and followers of the Murugha Matha on Thursday had determined to method Karnataka excessive court docket looking for the appointment of a brand new pontiff at Jagadguru Murugarajendra Vidyapeetha Mutt in Chitradurga.
The choice to method the court docket was taken at a gathering on Thursday amid considerations that salaries of over 3,500 workers members throughout instructional establishments run by the mutt remained undistributed since August.
The assembly at S Nijalingappa memorial premises was chaired by former minister H Ekanthaiah and attended by over 1,500 members of the neighborhood. “The neighborhood leaders raised considerations as over 3,500 workers members throughout greater than 150 instructional establishments run by the mutt haven’t obtained any wage since August,” Ekanthaiah advised HT.
The mutt administrator Vastradmat advised HT that the mutt filed attraction in state HC to offer powers to signal cheques to seer.
Sharanaru was arrested on September 1 after two women learning in a faculty and residing in a hostel run by the mutt accused him of sexual assault. The accused has been booked beneath Indian Penal Code, POCSO Act and Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, and is presently in judicial custody. 4 of his associates have additionally been booked beneath comparable expenses.
In keeping with folks conscious of the developments, the seer has refused to step down from the publish of the pontiff.