Lingayat Mutt sex scandal: Wife of ex-administrator detained for conspiracy against accused seer

Chitradurga (Karnataka): The Karnataka Police investigating the case of conspiracy against rape accused Lingayat seer Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru have taken Sowbhagya Basavarajan, wife of former administrator of the Murugha Mutt in to custody, police said on Friday.

Basavarajan, wife of S.K. Basavarajan had disappeared following the lodging of a case of conspiracy against her. The Chitradurga rural police tracked her in Davanagere city and took her into custody.

Police officials said that she was arrested late Thursday night and has been kept in a government facility. She would be questioned and arrested later in the day (Friday), police added.

Basavaprabhu Swamiji, in-charge of the mutt, had given a complaint of conspiracy against Sowbhagya Basavarajan and others on November 9. Her bail plea was rejected by the Chitradurga court recently. The police had also arrested her husband Basavarajan, once a close associate of the rape-accused seer in connection with the case.

Basavaprabhu Swamiji had alleged that the accused hatched a conspiracy to frame the seer Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru in POCSO and atrocity cases to make money.

Karnataka Police earlier had also arrested the mother of the victim minor girl in the second POCSO case against Lingayat seer Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru in connection with the case. After coming out on bail, the mother had written a letter to the President Droupadi Murmu seeking justice or permission for mercy killing.

Sowbhagya Basavarajan is accused of hatching a conspiracy to fix the arrested seer through the family of victims. Sowbhagya Basavarajan and her husband had given shelter to the victims in the first case before lodging the complaint.

The complaint by the in-charge seer said that the accused had entered into a conspiracy against the Shivamurthy Murugha seer to defame him to make money. The 14-minute audio clip in this connection allegedly showed the victim girls being tutored to lodge a case against Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru.

The complaint stated that this was a well-planned conspiracy against the seer, carried out as per the directions of vested interests. The police have officially stated that the charges against the rape accused seer were proved in the first POCSO case.

–IANS