The seer was intercepted in Haveri and taken back to Chitradurga. Three days after being booked under the POCSO Act, he is yet to be arrested.
Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru, Chief Pontiff of Murugha Matha, Chitradurga. File Photo. (South First)
Three days after he was booked for offences under provisions of the Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, Murugha Matha seer Shivamurthy Muruhha Sharanaru said on Monday, 29 August, that he would cooperate with the investigation.
Shivamurthy Muruhha Sharanaru, chief pontiff of Chitradurga’s famous Murugha Rajendra Matha, was on Monday intercepted by the Karnataka Police in Haveri when he was travelling.
While the seer hasn’t been arrested or detained even three days after an FIR was registered against him on the basis of complaints of sexual abuse by two minor girls, the police stopped the seer’s vehicle.
Escorted back to the matha (religious monastery), the seer addressed followers and supporters who had been camping outside it.
Murugha Rajendra Matha in Chitradurg of Karnataka whose seer has been booked under the POCSO Act. File Photo. (South First)
“I respect the law of this land. I will always extend all cooperation to the investigative process. There is no question of running away or speculations,” Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru told supporters after returning to the matha on Monday.
“You should not trust rumours. We are on the side of the right. The Murugha Matha once functioned as a walking, talking court,” he added, calling the current situation “unhealthy”.
The situation he was referring to was the FIR against him and four others connected with the matha in connection with the alleged sexual abuse of two minor girls.
“We have to face this situation bravely, together. The whole community has to unitedly work toward bringing this to a logical end,” said the seer.
“This isn’t new. I have been facing such conspiracies for 15 years now. They used to be inside the institution all these years, but now they are spilling outside,” the seer alleged, deeming the case against him a “conspiracy”.
Following a complaint by two minor girls — both Class 10 students in the school run by the religious institution and residing in the hostel attached to it — the Nazarbad police registered a case under the POCSO Act.
The minor girls approached the Mysuru-district Child Welfare Committee (CWC) on Friday and recorded a statement detailing the alleged sexual harassment they had been subjected to by the seer.
A formal police complaint was filed by the district’s Child Protection Unit’s Legal and Probation Officer Chandrakumar C at the Nazarbad Police Station following the directions of the CWC.
“Two minor girls studying in class 10 at Priyadarshini school and residing in the Akkamahadevi hostel — both run by the matha — have given a statement before the CWC that Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru, chief of the matha, has been sexually harassing the 16-year-old victim for the last three and a half years and the 15-year-old victim for over one and a half years with the help of warden Rashmi and junior pontiff of the matha, Basavadithya. Following the CWC’s directions a complaint has been filed for investigation under relevant sections,” the FIR registered by police reads.
The five accused named in the FIR have been booked under POCSO Act Sections 17 (punishment for abetment), 5(L) (punishment for penetrative sexual assault on child more than once), and 6 (punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault), as well as Sections 376(2)(n), 376(3), and 149 of the IPC.
The minor girls are currently at a care home being counselled by professionals.
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