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.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday granted bail to senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia, who was in jail over for over five months for his alleged involvement in a drugs case registered in December 2021. A division Bench of Justices M.S. Ramachandra Rao and Sureshwar Thakur had reserved the order on the bail plea on July 29.
In a major breakthrough in the killing of Shaurya Chakra awardee Balwinder Singh Sandhu in 2020, Punjab Police on Tuesday arrested key accused Gurwinder Singh, a.k.a. Baba, from Tarn Taran.
Cyber Crime Portal from the complainant Baldev Singh (a head Granthi in a Gurudwara in Delhi) was received alleging that he was contacted by a person in name of providing Kirtan opportunity in marriages and other cultural occasions in various cities of United States. Following this offer, the complainant transferred Rs. 1.25 lakh in bank accounts provided by the accused person.
Deputy Inspector General, Anti-Gangster Task Force Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said the team acted on a tip off to locate the kingpin Parminder Singh, alias Pindri, who was handling the operation of Bishnoi gang in the Nangal-Ropar belt. He said 22 first information reports (FIRs), including an attempt to murder, have been registered against the gangster.
The passenger reached at terminal number 3 on August 6. He was intercepted after he had crossed the Green Channel and was approaching towards the exit gate. On thorough checking of his baggage, nothing suspicious was found.
The operation was carried out in all seven border districts of Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Batala, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Ferozepur and Fazilka. Major focus of this operation was to keep vigil on movement of drones carrying drugs and arms, ammunition, explosives and grenades in the border areas, an official statement said.
