A group of youth from Malladihalli, Kengunte, Dummi and Ramaghatta villages in Karnataka's Holalkere taluk on Monday vandalised a statue of Murugha Mutt seer Shivamurthy Murugha Sharana, a prime accused in the sexual abuse case, installed in the premises of an orphanage at Malladihalli.
The group entered the orphanage and vandalised the statue and later staged a mock funeral protest by setting photos of the seer on fire at the main circle in the village. They demanded that the police arrest the seer at the earliest.
They said Raghavendra Swamiji had taken the orphanage to new heights but Murugha Mutt seer had not taken any step to develop it in the last 15 years despite being its head. ''It is unfortunate that the ashram has become a grazing field now. The orphanage was earning an income of Rs 9 crore annually. But it has been misused,'' one of the youth alleged.
The protestors also alleged that the trustees of the orphanage don't visit the mutt to know the ground reality.