Bengaluru: The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has submitted the charge-sheet against Raghaveshwara Bharathi Swamiji, pontiff of Shivamogga-based Ramachandrapura Mutt and six others in an alleged rape case, at a Court here on Saturday.
According to sources, the CID has submitted a 1,340-page charge-sheet before the First Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate which also contains the statements of 151 witnesses.
IPC Sections 376(2)(N) (repeated rape) and 508 (act caused by inducing person to believe that he/she will be rendered an object of the divine displeasure), among others, have been invoked in the case. It may be recalled that Raghaveshwara Swamiji was first accused of raping his devotee Premalatha Shastri. This particular high profile case had taken many interesting turns in the past year after Premalatha’s daughter alleged that her mother was raped by the Seer on several occasions in the past few years.
A second complaint against the Seer is also being probed by CID. One Yakshagana artiste had filed a complaint that she was sexually harassed by the Seer and he had raped her in 2006 when she was staying in the Mutt’s hostel in Hosanagar. The complaint was filed at Girinagar Police Station which has now been transferred to CID.
This post was published on September 26, 2018 6:26 pm