Vidyamanohar Tirtha Swami of Sosale Vyasaraj Mutt was taken into custody by the district police on the charge of misuse of silver articles, including the silver plating of a chariot, belonging to the religious institution.
Sources said the seer along with his mother, Srimati, and Pramod, an assistant, were produced in court on Friday night and remanded in police custody.
A follower of the mutt, Narendra, had filed a complaint at T. Narsipur police station alleging that a silver chariot and other articles of antique value were missing, following which a case was registered in June 2013. The investigation pertaining to the case was prolonged and the police suspected the complicity of the seer and raided his house at Krishnamurthypuram in the city on Friday night.
The sources said that about 15 kg to 20 kg of silver was recovered from the house and it is suspected to be the silver plating of the chariot.
The original chariot which was six ft in height, was made of wood and built in 1935 and is now suspected to be destroyed.
The mutt has a troubled past since the last few years and the institution itself has been taken over by the State government after allegations of mismanagement and misappropriation made by the devotees.
The government appointed an administrator to manage the affairs of the institution, which has a history of over six centuries.
There is another case registered against the seer at the Lakshmipuram police station in the city. He has been accused him of pledging the mutt’s properties with a financier and the case is under investigation.
Sosale is about 3 km from T. Narsipur and is close to the confluence of the Cauvery and the Kapila, and the mutt has a hoary past with a strong lineage of illustrious teachers propounding the Dvaita philosophy.
