A Karnataka local court on Tuesday, October 11 extended the judicial custody of rape accused Lingayat seer Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru till October 21. The seer was produced before the Second Additional District and Sessions' Court and judge BK Komala extended his judicial custody rejecting his pleas for granting bail. The accused seer was arrested on September 1 on charges of sexually assaulting two minor girls staying at the Murugha mutt hostel. 

The High Court had recently approved getting signatures on cheques from the accused seer. It had also directed the counsel of the accused seer to make arrangements of transfer of the power of attorney of giving power of signatures to another person and submit a petition to the local court in this regard. The cheques were meant for payment of monthly salaries to  the employees of the mutt and educational institutions run by it. Justice M Nagaprasanna allowed the plea filed by the seer and ordered that cheques be allowed to be signed on October 3, 6 and 10. In his plea, the seer claimed he was the only trustee of the mutt’s trust and salaries have to be paid to over 3,000 employees of the over 150 institutions under it.

The High Court had earlier said that there was a lack of clarity in the request of the seer to sign around 200 cheques from prison, as all the cheques had the payable details mentioned as Self RTGS" (real-time gross settlement).

The accused seer is refusing to step down even now and the followers and community leaders have conducted a meeting to discuss appointment of a new seer to protect the honour and historical heritage of the Murugha mutt.

Murugha mutt is considered the richest religious mutt in terms of properties and it has 3,000 branches all over the country. It also runs more than 150 reputed educational institutions. The mutt also plays an important role in state politics.