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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Jasprit Bumrah continues to remain No. 1 in Test rankings
Dubai, Jan 8: India's pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah continued to reign supreme at the top of the bowlers' chart with a career-best rating of 908 in the latest ICC Test Rankings, released on Wednesday.
Bumrah, who made history ahead of the fifth and final Test against Australia by recording the highest-ever ICC Rankings rating for an Indian bowler at 907 points, improved that tally by one point after taking two wickets in the first innings at the SCG.
However, a back spasm ruled him out of bowling in the second innings, restricting his role to just batting.
Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja, who climbed a spot to be joint-ninth, is the other Indian giving Bumrah company in the top-10.
He shares the ninth spot with Australian pacer Scott Boland, who has made a remarkable leap of 29 places to break into the top 10.
Boland's stellar performance in the Sydney Test, where he claimed a 10-wicket haul (4/31 and 6/45), proved too much for the Indian batters on a lively pitch.
His efforts were instrumental in Australia's triumph, ending a decade-long wait to reclaim the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Australia skipper Pat Cummins also made gains in the rankings, climbing to number two after picking up five wickets in the final match. South Africa's Kagiso Rabada rose a spot to occupy the third place while injured Josh Hazlewood moved down two places to be fourth.
Rishabh Pant's blistering 33-ball 61 in the second innings earned him a three-spot rise in the batting rankings, moving him to number nine while India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal retained his fourth spot.
South Africa captain Temba Bavuma extended his rich vein of form, scoring a vital century in the first innings to climb three spots to number six, also achieving a career-best rating of 769.
Meanwhile, Kyle Verreynne's impressive century saw him rise four places to secure the 25th spot.
