Vidyamanohar Tirtha Swami has abdicated his peetha as the seer of Sosale Vyasaraja Mutt and has filed an affidavit before a local court in this connection on Friday.
The seer, who was in the eye of controversy, had found himself on the wrong side of the law and faced charges of embezzlement of mutt property and misuse of valuables donated by devotees over centuries.
He was also arrested twice, and a devotee had filed a complaint that the silver chariot as also other valuable articles was misused. The mutt representative in T. Narsipur confirmed the abdication of the peetha by Vidyamanohar Tirtha and said it will pave way for his succession. Other sources said it was likely that Prahalladachar would ascend the peetha.
In view of the mutt’s troubled past in recent years, the State government had intervened and appointed a retired senior IAS officer as its administrator to manage the mutt activities, while a section of the followers of the mutt brought pressure on the seer to abdicate his peetha.
Sosale is about 3 km from T.Narsipur and is close to the confluence of the Cauvery and the Kapila.
