A First Information Report has been registered against 7 people including the seer.
A fresh case has been registered against Karnataka's Lingayat seer Shivamurthy Sharanaru, who is currently in jail over rape allegations, after four minor girls alleged that they were sexually assaulted by him for years.
The girls have alleged that Shivamurthy Sharanaru, who heads the Murugha Math - one of the key Lingayat seminaries in the state, sexually abused them several times between January 2019 and June 2022, officials said.
A First Information Report or FIR has been registered against the Lingayat seer and six others, including the warden of the hostel at the mutt, based on their complaint.
This is the second case filed against Shivamurthy Sharanaru under the Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act for sexually assaulting minor girls at his mutt's hostel.
He was arrested in September following protests after two minor girls accused him of rape. The case was filed on August 26 after the girls - both students of Murugha Math - approached a non-governmental organisation in Mysuru.
The seer, who wields considerable influence in the community, was also charged under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, as one of the victims belongs to the SC community.
Given the Lingayat community's political clout, the state's political leaders, cutting across party lines, had maintained silence over the issue.
Just before the launch of Congress' 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' in August, party MP Rajul Gandhi had visited Shivamurthy Sharanaru, who then inducted him into the Lingayat community.