Karnataka Lingayat Leader Arrested For Allegedly Raping Minors

Lingayat seer Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru from the Lingayat Community, a dominant Hindu sect in Karnataka was booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (Pocso) by the police of the state and sent to 14-day judicial custody. He was arrested on Thursday night, six days after a complaint was filed against him.

According to the complaint, two girls, aged 15 and 16, studying at the school run by the mutt, were sexually abused for over three-and-a-half years by the seer. Besides seer, a total of five people, including the warden of the monastery's hostel, are accused in the case. Hostel warden, Rashmi was detained on Thursday. 

Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru has also been charged under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act as one of the survivors is a Dalit girl. 

According to the details, the two girls had approached a non-governmental organisation in Mysuru and narrated the alleged abuse. Later, a case was registered by the police. The students were shifted to a government hostel after the rape case was registered against the Lingayat seer.

Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru was taken to a government hospital in Chitradurga for a medical check-up and then driven to an undisclosed location for questioning.

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