Sexual assault: Another FIR against Muruga Mutt seer

NT Correspondent

Mysuru:

Sexual assault charges are piling up against the high-profile pontiff of the Muruga Mutt, Shivamurthy Shivacharya Swamy with another First Information Report (FIR) now filed against the seer for allegedly sexually assaulting four girls.

The case was filed at Nazarbad Police Station in the city. Various provisions of the IPC, CrPC and POCSO have been slapped on the seer who has been lodged in Chitradurga jail for over one and a half months on earlier accusations of sexually exploiting girl students of a hostel run by the mutt.

According to information available, the parents of the four victims approached Odanadi, a NGO to share information about the sexual assault of their daughters by the seer. The victims are in the age group of 10 years to 12 years and the seer had reportedly sexually exploited them even before they attained puberty.

The statements of the victims were recorded by Mysuru cops and the cases may be shifted to Chitradurga Police Station for further investigation. The girls are from a poor economic background and had stayed in the girls' hostel run by the mutt where they were reportedly sexually exploited by the swami. In the FIR, seven persons have been named including the seer