Lingayat mutt sex scandal: K'taka court to pronounce order today
Darpan News Desk IANS, 23 Sep, 2022 11:49 AM
Bengaluru, Sep 23 (IANS) A local court in Chitradurga will, on Friday, pronounce its verdict on the bail petition of rape accused Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaruo in the Lingayat mutt sex scandal case.
Second Additional District and Sessions' court Judge B.K. Komala, who had earlier flayed the prosecution for providing preferential treatment to the accused seer and trying to shift him to Bengaluru, will pronounce the order.
According to sources, the accused seer is likely to be discharged from the hospital on Friday. After the angiogram, the blood pressure, saturation reading have become normal, heart surgeons Dr Mahesh Murthy and Dr Parameshwar stated.
The accused was allowed treatment at the Meggaon Hospital of Shivamogga considering his heart ailment on Wednesday. Murugha Sharanaru was arrested following the complaint by two minor girls, who accused him of sexually exploiting them and threatening them.
They had approached Mysuru NGO Odanadi and later, the NGO pursued the case. Following a dramatic turn of events, accused Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru was arrested from the mutt premises and kept in the prison. Later, he was handed over to police custody.
Murugha Sharanaru is booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The girls are being kept at the government facility.
Meanwhile, allegations have surfaced that the accused seer has been sexually violating minor children for over a decade. He had a well established network in the mutt to exploit the girls. Junior pontiffs and many progressive thinkers have challenged that he had given property and money of the mutt at his will to the victims of sexual assault.
Justice Ranjit Singh (retd), who headed the commission appointed by the previous Congress government into the alleged incidents of sacrilege of Sri Guru Granth Sahib and the subsequent police firing on protesters, has placed the then Chief Minister, the SAD patriarch, and then DGP Saini in dock.
According to Goa police, Sonali Phogat felt uneasy on Monday night and later in the morning (on Tuesday), she was taken to St. Anthony hospital in Anjuna at around 8 a.m., where she was declared brought dead. She had come to Goa on August 22 and was staying at a hotel in Anjuna.
Addressing the media here, Badal said "there should be a free and fair inquiry against all political leaders, including Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and MP Raghav Chadha, as well as Punjab government officials who facilitated the scam".
The contraband was hidden in the large growth of elephantine grass near border pillar No. 29/09, which was recovered by a BSF patrolling party led by Deputy Commandant Jaipal Singh. The BSF has lodged an FIR with the police but no arrests have been made so far.
On Tuesday, the Police had written to the Department of Forensic Medicine at Goa Medical College for appointing a panel of doctors for conducting the post-mortem. The autopsy is expected to be conducted later in the day.
Accused Rahul Kumar was arrested by cyber crime police station team (east) of the Gurugram police on Monday. Rahul Kumar was on the run since June 2021 when he along with his accomplice had duped a Gurugram resident of Rs 51,218 on the pretext of renewing his vehicle policy.
