Karnataka: Police here have registered a first information report (FIR) against Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru on charges of sexual assault of minor girls.
This is the second case filed against the seer under the Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act for sexually assaulting minor girls living in the hostel run by the ashram.
Notably, the first case was registered on August 25.
According to reports, two minor girls, aged 12 and 14 years, were studying in the Sri Jagadguru Murugha (SJM) educational institutions run by the mutt. The complaint was lodged by the parents of the two girls who were working with the mutt,” said a senior police officer.
The girls were studying in SJM institution and stayed in the Akka Mahadevi hostel of the mutt. The seer allegedly sexually assaulted the girls who were asked to “serve the seer”, reports added.
Sharanaru, who heads the Jagadguru Murugarajendra Vidyapeetha Mutt, was arrested late on September 1 after days of intense public pressure.
He is accused of raping two girls, 15 and 16 years old, between 2019 and 2022, and was booked by the police for rape under the POCSO Act 2012 on August 25.
The mutt is among the most influential religious centres for the politically influential Lingayat community, believed to be the single largest caste group in Karnataka.
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