“I Begged, We Are Poor Kids”: Girls Who Accuse Karnataka Sadhu Of Rape

Bengaluru:

More sinister charges have emerged against 64-year-old Shivamurthy Sharanaru, one of Karnataka’s most influential Lingayat saints, who will remain in jail for at least another week as a local court today extended his judicial custody.

“He used to give chocolates laced with something.”

“He would make me sit, drink and abuse me.”

“She asked the warden to send the girls to her room.”

These charges have been leveled against him by two girls aged 15 and 16, as per the chargesheet and today’s hearing.

The seer has been in jail since September 1 on charges of raping minor girls at a school run by the Muruga Mutt in Chitradurga, about 200 km from Bengaluru.

A 15-year-old student has alleged, “He took off my clothes and raped me. I pleaded with him saying ‘we are children from poor families’.”

He said he used to give chocolates “adorned with something”.

“After consuming them, I would faint.”

Another 16-year-old girl told the magistrate that she was sexually assaulted several times and threatened at knife point.

“Varden Rashmi sent me to Swami’s room through the back door. When I entered, I saw that he was drinking. He gave me fruits, after which I fainted. When I regained consciousness, I didn’t have clothes. He threatened me. At knifepoint when I refused to cooperate,” she alleged.

He further said, ‘If any student refused to go to Swami’s room, the warden Rashmi used to beat them up.

26-year-old Rashmi is also arrested.

Chitradurga Superintendent of Police K Parasuram, who led the investigation, had told reporters in the past, “Whenever the children protested, he gave them apples laced with sedatives and raped them.”

Politicians have treaded cautiously as Lingayats constitute 17 per cent of the state’s population and a powerful vote bank. Elections are due in a few months.

The sect is usually associated with the ruling BJP, which is why Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and his predecessor BS Yediyurappa, both Lingayats, are in a difficult position.

His party leaders, including BS Yediyurappa, initially defended the seer, calling the case a “conspiracy”. But Mr. Bommai has since said that he “will be punished according to law”, while Mr. Yediyurappa has said, “Today the whole world knows that he has committed the unforgivable crime.”

Congress’s Siddaramaiah, Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, termed the allegation as “serious” and said, “Police should conduct a fair investigation and reveal the truth on the basis of the complaint lodged by the girls.”

The Congress also faced questions as its leader Rahul Gandhi was formally inducted into the sect by the seer days before the case was registered in August.