New Delhi: The chief pontiff of Sri Murugha Mutt, Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru, who has been accused of sexually assaulting minors, was arrested on Thursday (September 1, 2022), news agency ANI reported citing Alok Kumar, ADGP, Law and Order Karnataka.


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The seer has been arrested under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) for the alleged sexual abuse of two high school girls.


"The arrested chief pontiff of Sri Murugha Mutt, Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru who was accused of sexually assaulting minors, will be produced before judge. Medical test and investigation will be done as per the procedure," ANI quoted Alok Kumar as saying.


The Mysuru city police had last week filed an FIR against the seer under the POCSO Act and certain sections of the Indian Penal Code for the alleged sexual abuse. The FIR was registered against a total of five people, including the warden of the monastery's hostel, based on the complaint by an officer of the District Child Protection Unit.


It is alleged that the two girls, aged 15 and 16, studying in a school run by the math and residing in a hostel, also run by the monastery, were sexually abused between January 2019 and June 2022.


Two girls had approached a non-governmental organisation in Mysuru and narrated the alleged abuse, following which it approached the authorities and the case was registered by the police. The case was subsequently shifted to Chitradurga, as it was the place of occurrence of the alleged crime.


The pontiff, who had applied for anticipatory bail in a Karnataka court on Monday, has also been booked under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act as one of the two victims was from the SC community.


Apart from the POCSO and the Prevention of Atrocities Act, cases have also been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code(IPC) against the seer.


The police in Chitradurga had earlier this week produced the two victims for recording their statements under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).


(With agency inputs)