Murugha Math Pontiff threatened ashram hostel girls into submission: Survivor
Bengaluru (PTI): The Chitradurga-based Murugha Math seer Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru, booked for allegedly sexually assaulting girls in his ashram hostel, used to threaten them that they must follow his instructions for he said he has contacts in the administration and the police. This statement to the police came from a survivor and is now a part of the charge sheet filed in the court against the 64-year-old pontiff. It was also reported that a girl was murdered who went out to lodge a police complaint.
According to the survivor, she landed in the ashram after losing her parents; she has only a brother. She said she lived with 150 girls in the hostel the warden of which was Rashmi, the go-between the girls and the seer. According to the complainant, the warden used to send those girls whose names he would write on a slip.
The survivor said the seer stripped her and after getting drunk, raped her. She said she kept begging him to spare her as she came from a poor family.
She told police in her statement that other girls too narrated the same story that the seer sexually harassed them.
The survivor specifically mentioned a case in which a girl went out to lodge a complaint. The pontiff and others were alarmed and so caught her, raped her and murdered her.
The survivor said she, along with her friend, escaped, reached Bengaluru, approached a police station and from there they were referred to a person who then took the girls to ‘Odanadi Samstha’ in Mysuru.
When they fled from the ashram, fear gripped her as she recalled that Sharanaru had once threatened her saying, “I know the CM and the police officers.".
The Mysuru-based non-government organisation helped the girls lodge a police complaint under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
Based on the complaint, Sharanaru was arrested on September 1 and is in judicial custody.
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RR beat RCB by six wickets in IPL
Guwahati (PTI): Blistering fifties by Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Dhruv Jurel powered Rajasthan Royals to a six-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their IPL match here on Friday.
Sent in to bat, RCB rode on a fighting half-century by skipper Rajat Patidar (63) to post 201 for 8.
Virat Kohli (32), Romario Shepherd (22) and Venkatesh Iyer (29) also chipped in with useful contributions.
In reply, Sooryavanshi (78 off 26 balls) and Dhruv Jurel (81 not out off 43 balls) shared a 37-ball 108-run partnership for the second wicket to set the platform. Krunal Pandya (2/30) tried to bring them back with back-to-back wickets.
But Jurel, in the company of Ravindra Jadeja (24), completed the task with another 68-run stand, with two overs to spare.
For RR, Jofra Archer (2/33), Ravi Bishnoi (2/32) and Brijesh Sharma (2/37) took two wickets.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: 201 for 8 in 20 overs (Rajat Patidar 63; Jofra Archer 2/33, Ravi Bishnoi 2/32, Brijesh Sharma 2/37).
Rajasthan Royals: 202 for 4 in 18 overs (Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 78, Dhruv Jurel 80 not out; Krunal Pandya 2/30, Josh Hazlewood 2/44).
