Karnataka HC allows Murugha Mutt Seer to sign cheques from prison
Bengaluru, Sept 30: The High Court of Karnataka on Friday allowed chief pontiff of Murugha Math Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru, facing a case of sexual assault on minor girls, to sign cheques from jail.
The Seer has been in custody since September 1 in a POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) case. The cheques were for payment of monthly salaries for the employees of the math and educational institutions run by it.
Justice M Nagaprasanna allowed the plea filed by the Seer and ordered that cheques be allowed to be signed on October 3, 6 and 10. The permission of the deputy commissioner has to be obtained by the person who would carry the cheques. The signing of the cheques would be done in the presence of the investigating officer in the case and the jail authorities.
Photocopies of the cheques thus signed would be submitted to the trial court hearing the case, the High Court said. The High Court made it clear that the signing of the cheques is being allowed only for the month of October.
The Seer has to make an application to the trial court seeking permission to transfer the cheque signing authority through a general power of attorney to another person. The trial court would consider this request and issue orders.
In his plea, the Seer claimed he was the only trustee of the math's trust and salaries have to be paid to over 3,000 employees of the over 150 institutions under it. The High Court had said there was lack of clarity in the request of the Seer to sign around 200 cheques from the prison, as all the cheques had the payable details mentioned as Self RTGS" (real time gross settlement).
State public prosecutor 1 Kiran Javali has told the court that prima facie the submissions made by the accused did not seem bona fide. He requested the court to transfer the plea to the Sessions Court in Chitradurga for disposal on merit.
The High Court had said it was improper to request for self-addressed cheques to be signed by the accused in prison. Earlier, a similar request was made by the Seer before the Second Additional Sessions Judge BK Komala in Chitradurga where the POCSO case is pending. The judge rejected the request. So, the seer approached the High Court with the same plea.
The chief pontiff has also been charged under the SC/ST Atrocities Prevention Act.
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Vajpayee was 'second Nehru' of Indian politics: Sanjay Raut
Mumbai, Dec 25: Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Wednesday described late BJP stalwart and former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the "second Nehru" of Indian politics.
Talking to reporters here, Raut also said whenever "raj dharma" is under threat, the country will remember Vajpayee, whose birth centenary is being observed on Wednesday.
The Sena (UBT) leader said even though his party was not with the BJP, Vajpayee will always be remembered.
"The present day BJP may be maligning the legacy of (India's first prime minister) Pandit (Jawaharlal) Nehru, but Vajpayee was the second Nehru. He was the Nehru of non-Congress parties," the Rajya Sabha member claimed.
"Despite being a staunch Hindutvawadi, Vajpayee believed the country belongs to all. The BJP under Vajpayee was all inclusive and people believed the party wanted to keep India united and strong," he said.
Raut said even Pandit Nehru appreciated and blessed Vajpayee.
"(Shiv Sena founder) Balasaheb Thackeray had tremendous respect for Vajpayee and valued his word," he said.
"Whenever 'raj dharma' is under threat, the country will remember Vajpayee," Raut said.
Asked whether the Shiv Sena (UBT) will contest the local body elections independently, Raut said, "Let the poll schedule be announced, you will know...but we have begun the preparations."
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) is a constituent of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) along with the Congress and Sharad Pawar's NCP (SP).
Thackeray snapped ties with long-term ally BJP after the 2019 Maharashtra assembly polls over the issue of sharing the chief ministerial post.
In the last month's state polls, the ruling Mahayuti, comprising the BJP, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar's NCP, won 230 of the 288 assembly seats, while the MVA managed to secure only 46 seats.
Elections to various civic bodies in the state, including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), are overdue.
The undivided Shiv Sena controlled the cash-rich BMC for 25 consecutive years - from 1997 to 2022.
