Shocking details in 694-page charge sheet filed against Murugha Matha seer, two others

The preliminary charge sheet in the first case names, apart from the chief pontiff, Rashmi, the warden of the hostel were the girls lived, and Paramashivaiah, one of the matha’s administrators.

“We have submitted a preliminary charge sheet of 694 pages in total — 347 pages each in the two sections — charging the prime accused Shivamurthy Sharanaru, Rashmi, and Paramashivaiah,” Chitradurga district Superintendent of Police K Parashuram told South First.

The trio has been charged “based on the statements recorded and evidence collected”, he said. The investigation into the roles of the other accused are still underway.

“As and when we find conclusive evidence against other people, we will file a supplementary charge sheet,” Parashuram said, adding that the two sections of the charge sheet deal separately with the two minor girls as the “times and places of their abuse were different”.

Shocking details

Police sources said the charge sheet included statements of the minor girls, who have said they were “drugged” with fruits and juices laced with narcotic susbstances when they were in the seer’s room.

Stanley, one of the founders of the Odanadi NGO, which was instrumental in the registration of the cases against the seer, told South First: “Further investigation into the case should also include sections under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act of 1985.

He also levelled another serious allegation against the chief pontiff, claiming that when the seer was overseeing the cleaning of a septic tank on the monastery’s premises some 15-16 years ago, he sought to shift the blame for plastic syringes and condoms found there.

Stanley told South First that the seer said “members of the general public who visited the matha” had been “misusing the premises”.

The mother of two sisters who were allegedly assaulted by the seer has confirmed in her statement that she had seen syringes and used condoms in the garbage collected at the matha.

Police sources said that both Rashmi and Paramashivaiah, knew about the seer’s actions.

“If the girls refused to go to the seer’s room, Rashmi used to beat them with a cane, which has been seized by the police as evidence,” Parashuram, another member of Odanadi, told South First.

Illegal adoptions

The illegal adoption policies of the matha came to light when the police stumbled on paperwork involving a high-school girl who was sent away with her father who himself had admitted her to the matha as he could not take care of her.

“The man was visually impaired and he begged for alms for a living and he admitted his daughter to the matha stating he could not support her. And the girl who was sent away was later found killed in mysterious circumstances on a railway track on the Karnataka-Andhra Pradesh border,” Parashuram said.

Stanley said the accused should also be charged under sections involving “human-trafficking, since the matha had an organised way of carrying out its crimes by using drugs. There were also illegal adoption policies involving children”.

Police sources said that both Rashmi and Paramashivaiah, knew about the seer’s expectations and Rashmi used to send the minor girls from the hostel as per the swamiji’s wishes.

“The accused have been involved in an organised crime for a long time, and also have been habitually causing destruction of evidence as well, which has to be taken into account,” Stanley told South First.