MANGALURU: The Criminal Investigation Department (
CID) on Wednesday filed a
chargesheet against seer of Ramachandrapura Mutt Sri Raghaveshwara Bharati,
RSS leader Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat and president of
Puttur Havyaka Valaya Bonantaya Shiva Shankara Bhat, in connection with a suicide that took place in 2014.
The trio has been charged under IPC Sections 306 (abetment of suicide) and 506 (criminal intimidation).
The death pertains to one Shyam Prasad Shastry of Kedila village in Puttur. He is the brother-in-law of a Ramakatha singer, who alleged that seer Raghaveshwara Bharati sexually abused her. Later, there were allegations that the singer and her husband had been blackmailing the seer, and hence the
Honnavar police had arrested them. Following this, the trio had allegedly been issuing Shastry threats. Following Shastry’s death, his wife Lakshmi had filed a police complaint in this connection.
Shastry had recorded the phone conversation and these had been handed over to the police. The case was initially probed by the police at Puttur Town station and later handed over to the CID.
