'I'm an 81-yr-old man with cancer': Vokkaliga seer skips Bengaluru police questioning citing ill health

Bengaluru: Vishwa Vokkaligara Maha Samsthana seer Chandrashekaranatha Swami, who was booked for his alleged comments against Muslims, on Monday wrote to the Bengaluru police that he wouldn’t be able to attend the questioning citing ill health.

In a letter, the seer said that he was a cancer patient. “I was issued a notice to appear for an inquiry on December 2, 11 am, but I am an 81-year-old man, who is suffering from cancer,” the seer said.

“My doctors have advised me to remain under rest for around 10 days. Hence, I won’t be able to attend the inquiry on December 2. If I recover, I will attend on December 18, at around 3 pm. However, if I won’t be able to attend and if it is an inconvenience, I don’t have any objection to the investigators recording the statement at the mutt,” he added.

The seer said that he had already issued an apology over the "unintentional remark" and requested the police not to drag the matter. A police officer said that they would issue a response based on the directions from senior officers.

Chandrashekaranatha Swami was booked by the Upparpet police under BNS Section 299 (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage the religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) following a complaint from Syed Abbas, a social worker.

According to Abbas, Chandrashekaranatha Swami claimed that there was no voting power for others (non-Muslims) in Pakistan and a similar law should be commissioned in India wherein the voting powers of Muslims are revoked. After the video surfaced, the seer apologised.