Chitradurga (K'taka), Sep 14 (PTI) A court in Karnataka's Chitradurga has extended the judicial custody of Shivamurthy Sharanaru Swami, chief pontiff of the Murugha Math, till September 27.

The Second Additional District and Sessions Court Judge B K Komala heard the case as the pontiff's judicial custody was to end on Wednesday.

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The seer was in judicial custody for a night on September 1. He was taken into police custody for three days on September 2 and later to judicial custody till September 14 by the same court. He has been lodged in the Chitradurga district prison.

Sharanaru is facing charges under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

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He and four others are accused in the case where two minor girls aged 15 and 16 were allegedly sexually abused. They were students in the school run by Murugha Math and stayed in the math's hostel.

The complaint was filed by NGO Odanadi Seva Samsthe in Mysuru and the case then shifted to Chitradurga.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)