Bangalore: The head pontiff of the renowned Ramachandrapura Mutt in Karnataka who is at the centre of a slew of cases including alleged sexual assault and abetment of suicide was granted anticipatory bail by a city civil and session court here on Monday.
Raghaveshwara Bharati the head seer of the Ramachandrapura Mutt had been granted interim anticipatory bail on October 9 after the Karnataka high court had authorized the Criminal Investigation Department of the Karnataka police to investigate charges of sexual assault brought against the seer by a singer attached to the Mutt.
The session court on Monday granted anticipatory bail in the matter. The seer who is also accused of abetting the suicide of the brother-in-law of the singer Shyam Prasad Shastri was granted anticipatory bail in that case as well by the 51st Additional City Civil and Sessions Court judge B G Rama.
The seer has been asked to surrender his passport and submit a surety for Rs one lakh. He has also been directed to appear before the court whenever his physical appearance is sought.
On August 28 this year, a former singer attached to the Ramachandrapura Math filed a complaint with the Bangalore police accusing Raghaveshwara Bharati of sexually assaulting her on numerous occasions when she traveled around the country as the lead singer of a Ramakatha troup of the Ramachandrapura Mutt.
A few days before the filing of the sexual assault complaint against the seer a supporter of the seer had filed a complaint accusing the singer and her husband of blackmailing the seer with a demand for Rs three crore. The singer and her husband had been arrested on August 27 by the police on basis of the complaint by the seer’s supporter.
On September 2, the brother in law of the singer committed suicide after he was allegedly pressurised by supporters of the seer to get the case filed against Raghaveshwara Bharati withdrawn. The CID police in Karnataka are investigating all the cases involving the seer, the singer and their allegations.
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