Just hours after his arrest in the rape case of two minors, Lingayat seer Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru was moved out of the jail in Chitradurga and was rushed to a hospital. He complained of chest pain and collapsed, his lawyers and the police said. The 64-year-old politically influential seer, who stands accused of sexually assaulting two minors aged 15 and 16 over the past couple of years, was arrested six days after the FIR was filed.
Shivamurthy is currently admitted to an emergency ward of a hospital in Chitradurga, where doctors are conducting ECG, echo tests and chest scans. After being examined by two specialists from Davanagere, a decision was taken to move him to Jayadeva hospital in Bengaluru for further treatment.
However, legal experts feel this could be a tactic to keep the Lingayat seer — who holds the cards to a prominent vote bank in the state — out of jail. Advocate BT Venkatesh, who was at a protest site in Bengaluru condemning the developments in Chitradurga and demanding justice for the survivor, criticised the move to take the seer to the hospital. “In this country, it is a joke. Anyone who is influential, irrespective of whether one is in the pink of health, is suddenly shifted to the hospital. Suddenly, they develop health complications and are immediately taken to the hospital with the luxury of comfort until the bail matter is settled. It is a practice that is happening and is happening in this case as well,” he said
Calling the incident atrocious, Dr Ruth Manorama, a Dalit social activist, told TNM that since it was a POCSO case, police should have arrested Shivamurthy when the FIR was filed. "I think it's atrocious. A proper investigation must be done without the interference of the state, because the government is casteist. The High Court must inquire into the incident." She also demanded that all hostels and educational institutions run by religious institutions must be checked.
Meanwhile, the lawyer of the two minor sexual assault survivors said that in case a bail application is filed by the seer on medical grounds, they will oppose it in court.
“I don’t know about the seer’s health condition. If genuinely the seer is suffering from any disease, then I pray for his recovery. It is possible that it could be a tactic to keep him out of jail, but I am not in a position to say so. Only doctors and experts will be able to say that. No attempt has been made so far to file a petition on medical grounds for bail, it is premature to think about that. But in case that happens, we will definitely oppose his bail plea,” advocate Srinivas BC said, adding that the seer’s counsel had withdrawn the anticipatory bail application filed in the Chitradurga court as it became infructuous, in view of his arrest.
Meanwhile, the police have arrested the second accused in the case — hostel warden Rashmi. The police, who had questioned her in the case on Thursday, arrested her on Friday.