Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Jan 7: In a sudden development, state high court (HC) judge, Justice Ram Mohan Reddy, recused himself from the hearing of an appeal preferred by Sri Raghaveshwara Bharathi Swamiji, spiritual head of Ramachandrapur Math, seeking cancellation of rape case registered against him. Justice Reddy happens to be the second HC judge to withdraw himself from holding inquiry into allegations against the Swamiji. It may be recalled that Justice K N Phaneendra had withdrawn from hearing a petition filed by the Swamiji questioning the issuance of notice by criminal investigation department relating to his medical test.

The appeal, preferred by the Swamiji against the single judge bench decision which had rejected his petition, came up for hearing in the division bench comprising Chief Justice, D H Waghela, and Justice Ram Mohan Reddy, on Tuesday January 6. Justice Reddy, who had taken part in the hearing before lunch time, surprised the advocates of both sides, when the Chief Justice announced after lunch hours that Justice Reddy had expressed his intention to recuse himself from hearing the case. Justice Reddy later confirmed this decision.

Earlier in the day, senior advocate, B V Acharya, appearing for the Swamiji, said that the rape complaint was lodged with the tacit intention of extracting money from his client, who he said had done nothing wrong. He said that the Math had received calls several times demanding payment of three crore rupees for withdrawing the case. He felt that the very statement of the complainant that she was continuously raped for four years brings forth the truth that the complaint was baseless. Justie Reddy commented that it would be difficult to come to a conclusion without hearing the complainant's side of the arguments as she hails from a respectable family. Acharya said that the woman, who is 48, has widely travelled the world and has good knowledge of global happenings. Hene, he said it would be impossible to believe her when she claims she was raped for a number of years.

Earlier in the day, when the Chief Justice wanted to know about the status of the investigation by criminal investigation department, the advocate general claimed that the Swamiji was not cooperating with the investigation. He laid bare the prosecution's intention to approach court with a plea to cancel the anticipatory bail granted to the Swamiji.