A case of unnatural death has been registered in Ramanagara district of Karnataka at the Kudur police station after the death of the leader of the Lingayat Kanchugal Bandemutt was found dead. It is a suspected case of suicide. 

The deceased has been identified as Basavalinga Swamy. The 44-year-old head of the Lingayat Kanchugal Bandemutt was found dead in his room by devotees. They had broken in after the religious leader did not open the door to his quarters on Monday morning. He had not been responding to phone calls made by worshippers either. 

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A two-page suicide note was found in his room, according to the Indian Express quoting Ramesh L, a teacher at a school run by the  Bandemutt, who told the police about the death in a statement. The note allegedly states that the seer was being harassed with threats of defamation by a few people. No identities have been released so far. 

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The religious order of the Bandemutt has been around for the last 400 years or so. Basavalinga Swamy had been the seer of the religious organisation for the past 25 years, starting around the age of 19. The Ramanagara district police have begun an investigation into the death after a case of unnatural death was registered at the Kudur police station. 

This isn’t the first time that such a seer or religious person has died by suicide in recent months. Basavasiddalinga Swamiji, the pontiff of the Sri Guru Madiwaleshwar Mutt in Neginahala, a village in the Bailahongala taluk of the Belagavi district in Karnataka was found dead by suicide, according to a report from the Indian Express. He was found dead shortly after an audio clip that went viral on social media suggested that seers were misuing their religious positions for their own benefit.