23 September,2010 06:42 AM IST | | Madhusudan Maney
Forest officials arrest him for possessing illegal wildlife articles
The forest department officials recently arrested a self-styled godman for possessing illegal wildlife articles.
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The accused, D Manjunath (27), a resident of Horamavu near Yelahanka, allegedly had a pelt of a black buck and a pair of spotted deer antlers at his house.
B Veeranna, Regional Forest Officer (RFO) said, "On receiving a tip-off, we raided his house around noon on September 10. We seized the illegal items from the premises and arrested him."
D Manjunath claims that the pelts and antlers were presented to him by one of his devotees
Veeranna conducted the raid along with RFO B Veeranna along with Yelahanka Forest Guard Jagannatha Reddy, KR Puram RFO V Ganesh and Forester Krishnaiah.
He had also changed his name to 'Sri Sri Balayogi Sai Manjunath Maharaj'. "He claimed that he has been trained at Sagar near Shimoga and had learnt Vedas from Ramakrishna Ashram," said Veeranna.
After questioning, Manjunath has said that the pelts and antlers were presented to him by one of his devotees. Officials are now looking for the said person.
"Manjunath had shifted from KR Puram to Horamavu near Yelahanka couple of months ago.
He believed that that by having the deer pelt and other wildlife articles, people will be impressed. Just by sitting on a deer pelt one cannot become a swami, all this was done just to fool people," Veeranna said.
Manjunath was produced before a court and was remanded to judicial custody, but is now out on bail.
