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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KSRTC to run 1000 special services to clear Christmas rush
Bengaluru: The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation will operate 1000 additional special services in view of the Christmas festival.
In addition to the existing schedule, the special services will run on 19.12.2025, 20.12.2025 and 24.12.2025. Further, special buses will be operated from various places of intra & Interstate places to Bengaluru on 26.12.2025 & 28.12.2025.
Special buses will be exclusively operated from Bengaluru Kempegowda Bus Station to Dharmastala, Kukkesubramanya, Shivamogga, Hassan, Mangaluru, Kundapura, Shringeri, Horanadu, Davangere, Hubbali, Dharwad, Belagavi, Vijayapura, Gokarna, Sirsi, Karwar, Raichur, Kalaburagi, Ballari, Koppala, Yadgir, Bidar, Tirupathi, Vijayawada, Hyderabad and other places.
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Special buses from Mysuru Road Bus Station will be exclusively operated towards Mysuru, Hunsur, Piriyapatna, Virajpet, Kushalanagar, Madikeri.
The corporation has also announced a discount of 5 per cent on the fare if four or more passengers book tickets under a single reservation. A discount of 10 per cent will be extended on return journey tickets if onward and return tickets are booked simultaneously.
In addition to the above, special buses will be operated from all Taluk/District Bus Stands in the jurisdiction of KSRTC based on the traffic needs.
