This appeal seeks to challenge the order of the learned single judge dismissing the writ petition filed by the appellant, under Article 226 and Article 227 of the Constitution of India read with Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

2. The case of the appellant is as follows:-

The appellant, a 39 year old man, is said to be the Pontiff of the Shree Samsthana Gokarna – Shree Ramachandrapura Mutta, Hosanagara, Shimoga. The Mutta is said to have been established by the revered Shree Aadi Shankaracharya, about a thousand and three hundred years ago, at Gokarna, Kumta Taluk, Uttara Kannada District. He is said to have ordained a disciple, Shree Vidhyanandacharya, as the first Pontiff to manage the Mutta, the appellant is said to be the 36th Pontiff in the unbroken line of the Guruparampara of Shree Aadi Shankaracharya.

Shri Gokarna Mahabaleshwara temple at Gokarna was managed by the Mutta. With the Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Act, 1997, having been enacted, the temple is said to have been notified under Section 23 of the Act in the year 2003. However, it is said that on the representation on behalf of the Mutta, to the effect that it was a temple that was inextricably a part of the Mutta, the State Government is said to have removed the temple from the list of notified temples. The management of the temple was said to have been reverted to the Mutta. This, it was claimed by the appellant, as being the root cause for the events that have followed, as several individuals with vested interests were affected by the new dispensation and as a consequence, a concerted and virulent ‘smear’ campaign, or a vilification campaign, was said to have been set in motion, particularly against the appellant, by recourse to various devises – one of which was the initiation of proceedings before this court by way of writ petitions, many espousing a purported public interest. Some of those petitions are pending even as on date.

The criminal proceedings which are the subject matter of the present proceedings are said to have arisen in the following background.

It is claimed that during the Chaturmasya Vratha, a prestigious and popular programme conducted by the Mutta, apart from various religious activities, is said to be the ‘Ramakatha’, or the glorious story of Lord Rama, depicted through a kaleidoscopic programme combining religious discourses, music, dance and drama. It is said to be an elaborate programme spread over a period of over two months, during July and September, every year. In the year of 2014, many artistes and personnel were involved in the programme requiring elaborate arrangements.

It is claimed that the key personnel managing the event, namely, one of the Directors, Dr.Gajanana Sharma, the Camp Manager, R.V. Madhyasta, a singer, Deepika, are all said to have received similar anonymous phone calls warning them of serious consequences that would befall the Mutta and particularly, the appellant, if they did not stop the Ramakatha programme and they were said to have been offered illegal gratification if they co-operated. All three of them are said to have immediately lodged independent complaints before the police, on 16.7.2014, 6.8.2014 and 21.7.2014, respectively, which are said to have been registered by the jurisdictional police in separate criminal cases.

It is claimed that on 13.8.2014, one Divakar Shastry had called B.R.Chandrashekara, said to be the Secretary, Internal Security Department of the Mutta and also functioning as the Coordinator of the Ramakatha Programme, making a demand to speak to the appellant directly and when he was refused permission, Chandrashekara is said to have been informed that Shastry’s wife, Premalatha, who was a singer in the Ramakatha Programme, had been sexually abused by the appellant and that if Rs.3 crore was not delivered to a designated place at Bangalore, she would bring criminal charges of sexual abuse and exploitation by the appell