Police book teacher for 'falsely convincing' survivor to lodge complaint against Lingayat pontiff

The Chitradurga police have arrested a teacher for 'falsely convincing' a survivor to lodge a complaint against a Lingayat seer, Murugha Matha pontiff Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru who is in judicial custody since September 1 for sexually harassing minor girls of his Ashram hostel.

''We have arrested Basavarajendra for convincing the girl to lodge a complaint. An audio is also in circulation where the teacher is heard falsely convincing the girl, based on which the case was registered,'' the Chitradurga superintendent of police Parashurama K told PTI.

Police also arrested the former administrative officer of the Murugha Math S K Basavarajan for allegedly stealing numerous photographs of the seer from the Ashram.

Based on a complaint by some minor girls living in the Ashram through a Mysuru based non-government organisation (NGO) 'Odanadi Samsthe', police arrested the seer on September 1.