Chief pontiff of prominent mutt in Karnataka among 5 booked under POCSO Act

Chief pontiff of a Chitradurga-based prominent mutt is among the five people booked by the police under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, for allegedly sexually abusing high school girls, police sources said on Saturday.

The case has been booked at the Nazarbad Police Station here, based on the complaint by an officer of the District Child Protection Unit.

Warden of a hostel run by the mutt was among the accused, police sources said.

According to police sources, the complaint is based on the statement of two girls, who accused the seer of sexually abusing them for nearly couple of years now and others of allegedly supporting or cooperating for the same.

The girls are said to have approached the Odanadi Seva Samsthe, a social non-governmental organisation based in Mysuru, and narrated the abuse during the counselling on Friday night, following which Odanadi approached the authorities.

The Mysuru police have done preliminary legal formalities and the case may get transferred to a jurisdictional police station in Chitradurga, as the incident occurred there, sources added.

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