Murugha Mutt seer Shivamurthy Sharana.
Credit: DH File Photo
Chitradurga/Davangere: Murugha Mutt Seer Shivamurthy Murugha Sharana, who was arrested in the second Pocso case earlier on Monday, walked out of prison within three hours after the Karnataka High Court issued an order in connection with a non-bailable arrest warrant against him.
District prison authorities released the seer around 8:40 pm after receiving the stay order copy of the High Court.
The seer came out of the prison and went to Davangere in a car and stayed in Virakta Mutt, from where the Chitradurga police had brought him to the fort city earlier.
Earlier in the day, the Second Additional District & Sessions Court remanded him to judicial custody till December 2. Subsequently, a Chitradurga Rural Police team rushed to Virakta mutt in Davangere and took him into custody.
Later, the seer was produced before the court around 4:00 pm. After he was remanded to judicial custody, he was made to undergo a medical test in the district general hospital in Chitradurga and was taken to the district prison at 5:45pm.
Meanwhile, the counsel for the seer filed an appeal with the Karnataka HC to issue a stay order in this regard, following which the HC stayed the arrest warrant issued by the district court in the evening.
The counsel for the seer had filed petition in the district court on November 18 seeking permission to attend the hearing of the second Pocso case via video conference.
However, public prosecutor H R Jagadish had argued that it must not be permitted under any circumstance. He had also appealed to the court to issue an arrest warrant against the accused for not appearing before the court for hearing. Admitting it, Judge B K Komala issued an order around 11:45 am directing police to arrest the seer, citing an order issued by Kerala High Court in the similar case. Subsequently, the police team led by DySP K R Anilkumar rushed to Davangere and brought the seer to Chitradurga.
It may be mentioned here that the seer had come out of jail on November 16 after Karnataka HC granted conditional bail in the first Pocso case registered against him. The seer had gone to Davangere after coming out of the jail from Chitradurga on a condition that he should not enter Chitradurga district.
It may be mentioned here that the Chitradurga police had nabbed the seer on September 1, 2022 on charges of sexually abusing two high school students.
While his interrogation was going on, a woman lodged a complaint on October 13 at the Mysuru police station, alleging that the seer had abused her two daughters sexually. The court had issued a body warrant against the seer in the second case.
Police subsequently interrogated the seer who was in judicial custody and filed charge sheet in the court.
While the HC had issued conditional bail in the first case last week, the public prosecutor had filed a petition in the district court appealing to the judge to convert the body warrant to an arrest warrant.