Karnataka orders criminal case over Lingayat pontiff’s alleged verdict manipulation

The District Commissioner of Bidar has ordered the lodging of a criminal case against a Lingayat pontiff in connection with alleged forging of court orders.

Bidar: The District Commissioner of Bidar has ordered the lodging of a criminal case against a Lingayat pontiff in connection with alleged forging of court orders.

District Commissioner (DC) Govinda Reddy gave the orders to the Humnabad tehsildar on Wednesday.

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The order has been issued against Dr. Siddalinga Swamy of Basava Theertha Mutt.

The order was given by the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal (KAT) over a land dispute between one Chandrakantha Jaladara and the accused pontiff on November 17, 2017.

The pontiff in his submission to the Deputy Commissioner had added a line in the order copy to make the entry of his name into the contended survey numbers of a land near Humnabad city.

The accused pontiff had submitted a forged order by the KAT in this regard, adding the contents which were not in the original order copy on December 5, 2017.

It later came to the fore that the pontiff had submitted a forged copy of the order. The matter was taken to the Kalaburagi bench of the High Court and the court had issued directions to initiate criminal proceedings. DC Reddy has now asked the authorities to lodge a criminal case under IPC Section 466 (forgery of record of court or of public register) and other provisions.

More details are yet to emerge in the case.