Cops suspect honey trap, blackmail behind Lingayat seer’s death

The seer of Kanchugal Bande Math was suspected to have been honey trapped and blackmailed, which allegedly forced him to end his life, police sources said on Wednesday.

Sri Basavalingeshwara Swami, the head of the Math in Kempupura of Magadi taluk, which has a history of more than 400 years, was found hanging from a window grill of the puja house at the math's premises on Sunday.

A couple of pages of purported death note were found in which he has accused some people of harassing and blackmailing him by assassinating his character and has even named them.

The 45-year-old Lingayat seer was honey-trapped and often blackmailed after the Murugha Math Chief Pontiff Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru was arrested in a sexual harassment case, the sources claimed.

Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru is facing charges under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and the IPC.

Sharanaru is an accused in the case where two minor girls were allegedly sexually abused. They were students in the school run by Murugha Math and stayed in the math's hostel.

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