Seer Arrested For Kidnapping, Raping 17-Year-Old In Karnataka: Cops

A seer of a Ram temple in Karnataka's Belgaum district has been arrested for sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl, said the police.

The accused has been identified as Lokeswara Maharaj, a seer at Ram Mandir in Mekhali village, Raibag taluka in Belgaum, which is a little over 500 km from state capital Bengaluru.

The accused, say the police, lured the girl and took her to a lodge in Bagalkot city, where he allegedly raped her.

He then took her to Raichur and continued the abuse, the police said.

After committing the assaults, he abandoned the girl at the Mahalingapur bus stand in Bagalkot district, the police added.

"The accused lured the victim on the pretext of dropping her home, kidnapped her in his car, took her to a lodge in raichur and Bagalkot and sexually assaulted her. Later he left her on the outskirts of Belagavi," said Superintendent of Police, Belagavi district, Dr Bheemashankar S Guled.

A case against the seer was filed under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) at Navanagar Police Station in Bagalkot.

"The victim narrated the ordeal to her parents who registered a complaint with the Bagalkot cops. Since the victim was taken from our jurisdiction, a case was registered here and the accused was arrested and questioned," Mr Guled added.

The case was later transferred to the Moodalagi Police Station in Belagavi district, where authorities arrested the accused.