Bengaluru: The CID has enough material to file a charge sheet against Raghaveshwara Bharati swami of Sri Ramachandrapura math for the offence of alleged rape, the Karnataka High Court was informed on Friday.
Advocate-General Ravivarma Kumar made this submission to the court during the hearing of an appeal by the seer seeking quashing of the criminal case alleging that he had raped a devotee-singer more than 150 times between 2010-14. He was responding to a query by a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice D.H. Waghela and Justice Budihal R.B about the progress in the investigation.
Also, the A-G told the Bench that the seer is not cooperating with the investigation, as he has not consented for some “vital medical tests” required for the probe.
Mr. Kumar told the Bench that the result of a DNA test has been received by the CID and it is “positive.” He, however, did not elaborate.
A single judge bench had on October 9 refused to quash the FIR.
“Allegation is absurd”
Arguing on behalf of the seer, Senior Counsel B.V. Acharya contended that the complaint was filed only to tarnish the image of the seer, whose right to reputation has been seriously affected due to the “false” allegations.
While contending that the allegation of raping a woman more than 150 times is “absurd and highly improbable”, he pointed out that the woman and her husband, in a series of interviews given to at least four TV channels, had stated that “probably, they would not have filed the rape case against the seer if the math had not registered a case of blackmail against them.”
