Locals erupt in protest over sleaze video of Karnataka godman’s son

BENGALURU: Tension prevailed outside Muddevanavara Veera Simhasana Samsthan Mutt at Chikkajala near here on Thursday after villagers staged a protest over the Swamiji’s son allegedly indulging in a sexual act in the mutt. The protest was sparked off after a video of the Swamiji's son and an actress went viral on social networking sites and was aired on local news channels too.

The villagers alleged that the Swamiji’s son, who is also in charge of the mutt, was having an affair with a woman and his father was supporting him. “No such activities should be permitted inside the mutt. The mutt belongs to Veerashaiva Peetha of Srisailam. Pattada Parvatharaja Shivacharya swamiji and his son Dayananda Swami alias Gurunajeshwara are on the run after the incident came to light,” they said. The villagers are now on a night-long dharna demanding their arrest.

A senior police officer at Chikkajala police station said locals tried to barge into the mutt demanding that the swamiji and his son leave. Policemen were deployed to prevent any untoward incidents.
“There is a property dispute and some other internal issues in the mutt,” DCP (North-East) Girish S said.
The Muddevanavara Veera Simhasana Samsthan Mutt is a branch of Srisaila Peetha and has a history of 200 years. 

There were allegations that hundreds of acres of mutt property were sold to private parties. Revenue department officials had conducted an inspection a few years ago. The mutt had around 3,300 acres of property, donated by the erstwhile Mysore Maharaja Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar, of which 1,200 acres were sold to the airport authorities. Now the mutt is left with 60 acres and  Mahesh, an office-bearer of the mutt, has filed a private complaint before a court, the deputy commissioner, assistant commissioner and the police.

Mahesh told Express, “The protesters are demanding action against Dayananda Swami for luring the actress into a physical relationship. He had plans to take over as mutt pontiff in 2011 after his father suffered a stroke. We protested against this. Later, he claimed to be a swamiji. Both Dayananda and his father Parvatharaja Shivacharya swami brought disrepute to the mutt by selling hundreds of acres.”
“We even brought the irregularities to the notice of senior seers, but they did not bother to take action,” Mahesh added.