Fresh FIR against Murugha Mutt pontiff, six others in sexual abuse case
Mysuru: The Nazarbad Police filed FIRs late Thursday night against seven people, including Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru, for sexual abuse and abetting a crime under the POCSO Act.
A woman in Mysuru has complained to the Nazarbad police that the pontiff had abused her daughters when they were staying at the hostel of the Murugha Mutt in Chitradurga. She has said that the pontiff ‘regularly’ abused the girls sexually, till they reached puberty, said sources.
In her police complaint, the woman has said, “I started working in the Mutt six years ago and got my daughters admitted to Classes 3 and 1 at the school of the Mutt. My daughters were given rooms at the Mutt hostel itself. The pontiff sexually abused my daughters in 2019 and during the period of Covid-19 outbreak in 2020.”
She added in the complaint, “My daughters said that the pontiff would order the hostel warden Rashmi and the cook’s assistant Karibasava to lead him to them in the afternoons and use them for his pleasure. They said that this continued till they attained puberty.”
The mother informed the police that two girls aged 15 years and one each aged 14 years and 12 years, were also sexually abused by the pontiff.
“Since the Murugha Mutt pontiff was an influential person and since my daughters were minors, I was afraid to speak of this. Now, I sought the help of the NGO Odanadi Seva Samsthe to approach and file a complaint with Nazarbad Police,” said the woman.
Complaints have been registered against the pontiff, hostel warden Rashmi, Basavaditya, Basavalingappa, residents of Mysuru Gangadharayya and Paramashivayya, and the assistant cook Karibasava, sources added.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Kerala nurse Nimisha Priya case: Hope emerges as Iran may contact victim’s family in bid for pardon
New Delhi: There appears to be a glimmer of hope for Nimisha Priya, the nurse from Kerala on death row in Yemen, as report suggest Iranian officials may reach out to the family of Talal Abdo Mahdi, her former business partner, to seek a pardon through blood money. Priya was sentenced to death for Mahdi's murder.
The 37-year-old nurse is currently imprisoned in Sana’a, the Yemeni capital, which is under the control of Iran-backed Houthis.
A report by The New Indian Express published on Friday stated that discussions are underway to gain the victim's family’s support in seeking a pardon. “It’s a relief of sorts. Iran officials could use their good offices with Houthis for the reach-out with family of the victim. Some cash has been arranged for blood money and talks are on to get the family on board to seek pardon, but we’re keeping our fingers crossed,” a source told the publication.
It is learnt that using an appropriate intermediary equivalent of Rs 30 lakh has been kept ready, the report added.
Hailing from Kollengode in Kerala’s Palakkad district, the nurse was found guilty of murdering the Yemeni citizen in July 2017. She was handed capital punishment by a trial court in 2020 while Yemen’s Supreme Judicial Council upheld the verdict in November 2023.
Mahdi, reportedly died from an overdose of sedatives allegedly injected by Priya to retrieve her passport from him.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the Indian government is extending all possible help in the matter. “We are closely following the developments around the sentencing of Nimisha Priya. The government is extending all possible help in the matter,” he said last week.
