Karnataka
Karnataka: Three, including woman, detained in Lingayat seer's suicide case
Bengaluru: Three people, including a woman, have been detained in Bengaluru in connection with the suicide of Lingayat seer Basavalinga Swami, according to media reports.
Media reports said that the seer had written in his suicide note that a woman was blackmailing and harassing him, and accused her of abetting his suicide.
The 45-year-old seer was found hanging from his prayer room's window grille at Kanchugal Bande Mutt in a village in Ramanagara district last Monday.
He was the head of the Mutt and took over the 400-year-old mutt's chiefship at the age of 20 in 1997.
He had recently celebrated the silver jubilee of his chiefship.
According to an NDTV report, sources had said: “Private moments of the woman and the seer were captured by the woman using her phone's screen-recording function."
Police had said, he was “honeytrapped” and being blackmailed over “obscene video calls” with a woman.
The report quoted the district police chief as saying: “There are four videos doing the rounds. These videos are of obscene nature.”
"Two names in the suicide note are connected to the mutt," the investigators told NDTV.
The police added that they were investigating all possible angles.
The Lingayat sect has many mutts and centres across Karnataka and the neighbouring states.
It has a huge following in Karnataka, with the sect enjoying clout in many spheres, especially politics.
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