Bande Mutt seer allegedly ended life over blackmail, says police
Ramanagara, Oct 25: The seer of Kunchagal Bande Mutt here, who was found hanging on Monday morning, allegedly killed himself over "blackmail", police said.
Police have found a couple of pages of a purported death note by the seer in which he is said to have blamed some people of "harassing and blackmailing" him.
Sri Basavalingeshwara Swami, the head of the Math in Kempupura of Magadi taluk here, which has a history of more than 400 years, was found hanging from a window grill of the puja house at the math's premises.
The seer, who had taken over the reins of the math in 1997, had celebrated the silver jubilee as the chief priest, a few months ago.
According to sources, alarmed at the puja house door remaining shut till six in the morning, which was unusual as the seer used to be awake by 4 AM for puja and kept the doors open, and him not responding to knocks or phone calls, mutt's staff checked from the rear and found him hanging. They subsequently informed the police.
Police said they have registered a case of abetment to suicide and investigation is on.
According to police sources, a couple of pages of death note was found in which he has accused some people of harassing and blackmailing him by assassinating his character and has even named them.
Police, however, refused to divulge details and names citing that the investigations are on.
Officials said they will be questioning those named and those who were in close contact with the seer at the mutt and over phone.
The seer's last rites were performed on Monday evening, after completing due procedures and post-mortem.
In December last year, the head of Chilume Mutt, Basavalinga Swamy, was also found hanging in a similar fashion. He reportedly had died upset over his deteriorating health, and was said to be depressed.
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ISRO successfully conducts second integrated air drop test for Gaganyaan mission
New Delhi (PTI): Space agency ISRO has successfully conducted the second integrated air drop test (IADT-02) for the upcoming Gaganyaan mission at the space station in Andhra Pradesh's Sriharikota.
The system is essential to ensure a safe recovery of the crew module -- the capsule in which astronauts sit during a human flight -- during re-entry and landing.
Union minister Jitendra Singh congratulated the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for successfully conducting the test.
"Congratulations #ISRO for the successful accomplishment of Second Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT-02) for #Gaganyaan, India's first Human Space flight scheduled next year. The second Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT-02) was successfully conducted at Satish Dhawan Space Station Sriharikota," Singh said in a post on X.
The IADT-02 follows the successful completion of the first IADT, which took place on August 24, 2025, at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
Air drop tests recreate the last leg of a spacecraft's return to Earth. An aircraft or helicopter drops the spacecraft from a height to test various systems under different scenarios.
These are the deployment of the parachute system in case the mission is aborted mid-flight, system performance when one parachute fails to open and the spacecraft's orientation and safety during splashdown etc.
In the IADT-02 test, a simulated crew module, weighing about 5.7 tonnes, was lifted by an Indian Air Force Chinook helicopter to an altitude of about three kilometres and released over a designated drop zone in the sea, near the Sriharikota coast.
In a statement, the ISRO said, "Ten parachutes of four types were deployed in a precise sequence during the descent of the crew module, gradually reducing the velocity for safe touchdown. Subsequently, the simulated crew module was successfully recovered in coordination with the Indian Navy."
