Basavalingeshwara Swami suicide case: Seer, woman, advocate held

Police on Sunday said they have arrested three people — including a seer of a math and a woman — in a case relating to the alleged suicide of Basavalingeshwara Swami, the seer of Kunchagal Bande Math, here.

The head of the math at Kempupura in Magadi taluk that has a history of over 400 years was found hanging from a window grille of the puja house on the premises of the math on October 24.

The police said they found a couple of pages of a purported death note of the seer, in which he is said to have blamed some people for harassing and blackmailing him.

Some of his private videos had gone viral during the last few days. According to the police, they have seized three videos.

”During the investigation into the Bande Math seer suicide case, we identified that Neelambike alias Chandu, aged 21, had made the video, She is a second year student of engineering in Doddaballapura. Also, Mrityunjaya Swamiji of Kannur Math, and an advocate Mahadevaiah were involved,” said Ramanagara SP K Santosh Babu.

Speaking to reporters, he said the trio had planned a video as they had some kind of misunderstanding and discontentment with the Bande Math seer. Therefore, they intended to expose him and made the CDs of the video and sent them to several people, said the police official.

”As this is a case of abetment of suicide, they have been arrested under section 306 of the Indian Penal Code (abetment of suicide) and sent to judicial custody. Further investigation is on,” he said, adding that they are said to have drawn up the plan in February and made a video in April. The police said they do not want to share the reasons for discontentment or misunderstanding the deceased seer and the trio had shared, citing ongoing investigation.