Murugha Math case: Seer's judicial custody extended till Sep 27

Chitradurga: 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.

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).

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.