Another Lingayat seer dies by suicide, cops probe blackmail angle

Highly placed sources told South First that a few men were threatening Basavalinga Swamy with a video of him in a compromising position with a woman.

ByBellie Thomas

Published Oct 25, 2022 | 4:54 PMUpdatedOct 25, 2022 | 4:54 PM

Sri Kanchugal Bandemutt in Ramnagara district, Karnataka. The head pontiff of the Lingayat mutt is alleged to have died by suicide

A Lingayat seer allegedly died by suicide at the Kanchugal Bandemutt matha in Ramanagara on Monday, 24 October. He was found hanging from the window grilles of his room.

He is said to have written a two-page suicide note alleging he was being harassed and intimidated by a few people who threatened to defame him using a compromising video of him with a woman.

The deceased, Basavalinga Swamy, 44, was the head pontiff of the Kanchugal Bandemutt and the incident came to light after his assistants got no response after they knocked on the doors of the seer’s room and also called him over his phone repeatedly.

The seer usually woke up regularly at 4 am. He would keep his room door open and prepare for the puja that would be conducted in a nearby room.

However, on Monday morning, the puja room was closed until 6 am and the matha staff and assistants along with devotees felt something was amiss, according to the police.

Related: How important in Karnataka is Murugha Matha?

Seer’s suicide note

The staff and the seer’s assistants then informed Ramesh, a close confidant of the pontiff and a teacher in the matha, that the seer was not responding to their calls.

Ramesh rushed to the matha and opened a window to find the seer hanging from a window grille. They broke open the door and tried to take the seer off the noose, but by then he was already dead, the police said.

The Kudur police in Magadi subdivision and circle have filed a case of unnatural death and abetment of suicide and are investigating further.

According to the police, the seer, in his suicide note, had alleged that a few people had been threatening to defame him. They were blackmailing the seer to make him step down from the position of head pontiff of the Kanchugal Bandemutt matha.

However, the police did not divulge the exact content of the seer’s suicide note.

Basavalinga Swamy has been the head seer at the around 400-year-old Kanchugal Bandemutt for about 25 years now.

Blackmail over video

Highly placed sources told South First that a few men were threatening Basavalinga Swamy with a video of him in a compromising position with a woman. They were also demanding money.

Superintendent of Police Ramanagara, Santosh Babu, told South First that they have filed a case and are investigating further based on a complaint from the matha teacher who is a close confidant of the seer.

“We have taken up a case under Section 306 [abetment of suicide] under the IPC and are probing. We have to question several people who have been in contact with the seer in recent times and will book the accused accordingly,” Santosh Babu said.

Related: More victims accuse Murugha Matha seer of rape

3rd Lingayat seer suicide since December 2021

As it was a suicide, the seer’s last rites were conducted the same day on Monday after the body was subjected to a post-mortem. He was buried at the Kanchugal Bandemutt matha premises.

Murugha Math seer

Murugha Matha chief pontiff Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru (Supplied)

This is the second death by suicide of a Lingayat seer in less than two months in Karnataka.

Earlier, on 4 September, the head pontiff of Sri Guru Madiwaleshwar matha in Neginahala village, Bailahongala taluk, in Belagavi district, Basava Siddalinga Swamy, died by suicide.

He had written a note saying there was a conspiracy against him after an audio conversation between two women went viral on social media alleging the seer was involved in immoral activities and misusing his position at the matha.

The suicide of Basava Siddalinga Swamy came soon after the arrest of the head pontiff of Murugha matha in Chitradurga, Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru. He has been accused of sexually assaulting six minor girls who were staying at the matha’s hostel.

In December last year, the head pontiff of Chilume matha in Ramanagara, who also had the name Basavalinga Swamy, was found hanging in his room. He died by suicide as he was depressed over his deteriorating health, the police said.