Pocso case: Court acquits Lingayat mutt head

A local court in Chitradurga, Karnataka, will on Wednesday acquitted the head of the Murugha Mutt, Shivamurthy Muruga Sharanaru and two others, in a case of alleged sexual assault on two minor girls.

Judge Channabasappa G Hadapad at the second additional district and sessions court read out the judgment in an open court. The Judge also discharged mutt manager Paramashivaiah and hostel warden Rashmi.

The acquittal was related to one of two Pocso cases the police registered. The investigation into the second case has been stayed by the high court.


The Police had, in August 2022, registered a case against the seer and four others under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (Pocso), 2012, and took up the investigation.

Odanadi Seva Samsthe, the Mysuru-based nonprofit, which helped the minor students file the police complaint, had pursued the case against the mutt head.

The seer had headed the powerful Veerashaiva-Lingayat mutt. Karnataka is set to face the assembly polls in about nine months, and before that crucial polls to Bengaluru’s civic body BBMP and to taluk and zilla panchayat bodies are also due.