Pontiff charged with rape under POCSO Act in Karnataka, arrested
Tumakuru, Mar 8: Balmanjunath Mahaswamiji of Vidya Chowdeshwari Peeth in Kunigal Taluk of this district has been arrested on charges of rape under POCSO Act following a complaint lodged by a 20-year-old woman with the police.
The victim alleged that the pontiff sexually assaulted her on several occasions in the past five years even when she was a minor.
According to the complaint, she first visited the Mutt along with her father when she was 15. They were looking for cure for their health issues and they performed an "Ashtamangala prasnam". But taking advantage, he allegedly sexually assaulted her.
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Later, he also forced her to attend his video calls wherein he asked her to remove her clothes and "please" him, the complaint alleged.
“Based on a complaint we received from the victim, we registered a case under section 376 (rape), 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and other relevant section of the Protection of Children from the Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act as well as IT Act,” a senior officer said, adding, the pontiff was arrested on Thursday night.
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MP boat tragedy: Death toll rises to 10 with recovery of one more body; 3 tourists still missing
Jabalpur (PTI): The body of a child was retrieved on Saturday evening from Bargi Dam in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh, raising the death toll in the cruise boat tragedy that took place two days ago to ten, while search continued for three missing tourists.
The boat, operated by the state tourism department, capsized during a storm on Thursday evening with some of the survivors alleging negligence and safety lapses such as life jackets not being distributed in time.
The body recovered on Saturday evening was possibly that of six-year-old Viraj Soni, said Sub-Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) Anjul Ayank Mishra.
"The identity will be confirmed after family members identify the body," he told PTI.
Kamraj, an employee of the Ordnance Factory at Khamaria, his five-year-old son Tamil, and another child Mayuram (5) who had come from southern India were still missing.
Authorities have arranged equipment to search deep waters of the dam and are getting a generator to facilitate diving operations, Mishra added.
Divers and disaster response teams have expanded the search radius to five km, he said.
Of the 41 identified passengers on board the ill-fated vessel, 28 were rescued, police said.
More than 200 rescuers, including around 20 Army divers airlifted from Agra, joined the search operation that resumed at 5 on Saturday morning. The operation, involving the National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force and local divers, was briefly affected at around 9 am due to strong winds, officials said.
Post-mortem examinations of nine deceased persons have been completed, Mishra said.
"Our priority is to search for the missing persons. We will also register a First Information Report in the case soon," he said.
Police said CCTV footage near the boarding point showed 43 people heading towards the boat while the identities of 41 passengers have been confirmed so far.
The state government on Friday ordered a probe into the tragedy and dismissed three crew members. It also banned operation of similar vessels in the state.
