Lingayat leader Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru was detained for allegedly raping youngsters

• An influential Hindu religious figure has been detained by police in the southern Indian state of Karnataka for allegedly raping two young schoolgirls.
•  the Lingayat community is represented by Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru, who is accused of abusing female students at his seminary.
• Sharanaru has dubbed the accusations a conspiracy and disputed the charges.

An influential Hindu religious figure has been detained by police in the southern Indian state of Karnataka for allegedly raping two young schoolgirls.

The major Hindu denomination in the state, the Lingayat community, is represented by Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru, who is accused of abusing female students at his seminary.

Six days after a complaint against him led to demonstrations across the state, he was taken into custody on Thursday night.

Sharanaru has dubbed the accusations a conspiracy and disputed the charges.

According to BBC Hindi’s Imran Qureshi in Bangalore, he appeared in court at 02:45 India time on Friday and was ordered to 14 days of judicial detention.

According to the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act, the 64-year-old seer has been charged. One of the survivors revealed that she was a Dalit, once regarded as an untouchable under India’s caste system, and the police have now accused him of violating the Scheduled Caste Scheduled Tribe Atrocities Act.

An intermediate caste called Lingayatas makes up about 17% of the population of Karnataka. They are incredibly powerful and control state politics; the majority of chief ministers have come from this group.

There are almost 2,000 influential Lingayat community mutts, or monastic institutions, in the state, and they also operate professional colleges.

The Murugha Mutt in Chitradurga city is led by Sharanaru. It oversees more than 150 religious and academic institutions spread out across the state.

Two females who were both seminary students approached a non-profit in Mysore city on August 26 and accused him of abusing them for years; a case was then launched against him. The girls said in their complaint that Sharanaru would summon them to his apartments before assaulting them sexually.

The accusations spurred demonstrations in Chitradurga and neighboring regions, with protesters demanding the arrest of the religious figurehead right away.

However, a number of people have spoken out in favor of the seer. Former chief minister BS Yediyurappa claimed that Sharanaru was being “falsely implicated.”

“His innocence will be established by the probe. Investigations will also identify those responsible for framing the seer “He informed the press.

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