High drama prevailed at the Sosale Vyasaraj Mutt in Basavanagudi on Sunday as more than 100 devotees accused its seer Sri Vidyamanohara Teertha Swami of cheating and prevented him from entering the establishment.
High drama prevailed at the Sosale Vyasaraj Mutt in Basavanagudi on Sunday as more than 100 devotees accused its seer Sri Vidyamanohara Teertha Swami of cheating and prevented him from entering the establishment.
The swami was returning from Kadappa in Andhra Pradesh, where the police of that state had taken him under arrest the previous day in a cheque bounce case.
The protesting devotees gathered at the mutt’s gate under Vyasaraj Seva Samithi, a body opposed to the seer. They demanded the swami to hand over the leadership of the mutt to “clean hands.” The police tried to pacify the protestors. They allowed the seer in only after he had agreed to talk with them after performing a puja in the mutt.
Narendra, a disciple, said that the mutt was 800 years old. “The present seer used the mutt and its property for his selfish ends. He became the seer illegally, as it was handed over to him by his grandfather, which is against the mutt rules,” he said.
The disciple said the seer managed to strike a compromise with Sampath Kumar Jain, who had lodged the cheque bounce case against the swami. The compromise was reached at the Rayachoti Mutt, Kadappa, where a meeting between the seer and the complainant, and their advocates was held. A seer from another mutt played the role of a mediator, Narendra added.
Meanwhile, Sri Vidyamanohara Teertha Swami Seer denied he was arrested. “A few people have conspired against me. I was just returning from Rayachoti Mutt, where I had gone on my own. Some persons have registered cases against me and I will fight them in a court,” the swami said.
But on Saturday, the Kadappa superintendent of police, Tarun Joshi, told DNA that the Kadappa police had executed a non-bailable warrant issued by a court, and took the seer to that place from Bangalore.
The seer had allegedly offered a property, over which the mutt has certain rights, in Tirupati to Jain for `2.6 crore and took `35 lakh as advance. The original owner Srihari, however, opposed the move, and the swami was forced to return the advance amount. He had issued several cheques, and one of them bounced, following which Jain lodged a police complaint.
The Sri Vyasaraja Seva Samiti, meanwhile, alleged that the swami was involved in many cheating cases in Govindarajapattana, Madurai, Srirangam and Bangalore.
He was also facing allegations of cheating and misusing the mutt property.
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