BANGALORE: An influential Lingayat seer in Karnataka, Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru, was  arrested after he was booked in a sexual assault case involving minors.

Protests broke out in Karnataka’s Chitradurga demanding strict action against the seer even as he maintained that there was no need to fear. The protesters alleged despite medical tests being completed on Sunday evening, the police failed to take any action. The seer was stopped by the Chitradurga police from Bankapura in Karnataka, while he was on his way to Maharashtra, his lawyer has claimed.

Later, the Mysuru police registered an FIR against the seer after a complaint was lodged on behalf of two minors. He was booked under sections of the protection of children from sexual offences (POCSO) act. Two girls studying at a school run by the Lingayat mutt reached outto ‘Odanadi Seva Samsthe', an NGO in Mysuru working for the rescue, rehabilitation, reintegration and empowerment of trafficked and sexually-exploited women and children.

After they narrated their ordeal, the NGO alerted the district children’s welfare committee, following which a case was registered. An FIR was subsequently registered against five people, including the warden of the mutt’s hostel, based on a complaint by an officer of the district child protection unit. According to the complaint, the girls, aged 15 and 16, staying at the hostel under the mutt, were sexually abused for over 3-and-a-half-years. Earlier in the day, addressing a large gathering of devotees in the mutt, Shivamurthy said he was not going to run away and expressed confidence that he would be cleared of all charges.

“This is not the first time we have faced problems. It has been happening for the last 15 years. Earlier, all these issues were fought internally, but now this matter has been raised outside the mutt. I request people not to fall for any rumours. We are cooperating in the investigation and I am sure I will come out clean,” he said.

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