Two key witnesses in the Sri Ramachandrapura Mutt seer Raghaveshwara Bharathi rape case say they have been receiving death threats and that the police have allegedly refused to file an FIR until the seer’s name is removed from the complaint.
The 45-year-old woman, whose complaint of rape led to a charge sheet being filed against the seer, on Tuesday alleged that the seer had pushed some of his devotees to issue these life threats witnesses in the case.
The Hindu reported that the artist, accompanied by her husband, submitted a petition in this regard to V.S. Ugrappa, Chairman of the Committee on Preventing Sexual Violence Against Women and Children on Tuesday.
According to her, the seer had recently made a provocative speech in which he had urged his devotees to protect him from the rape case. After this, key witnesses had started getting threatening posts on Facebook, she alleged. In one such post, a follower of the seer had warned that the witness would face the fate similar to that of writer M.M. Kalburgi, who was recently assassinated.
However, when Mr. Ugrappa asked if she wanted the committee to recommend to the government to give additional security to her, she and her husband refused it.
The artist and her husband had previously filed complaint saying they had been threatened by the seer through a Facebook post.
On September 19, the artist lodged a complaint with the Banashankari police, alleging that the seer of the Ramachandrapura Mutt Raghaveshwara Bharati had allegedly threatened her in a Facebook post, and that he had “instigated” his supporters to take action against her.
She added that she has been getting threatening calls from a person, who calls himself Kali Yogesh. The artist has filed a complaint in Konaje, Mysuru and Shimogga regarding this.