A local court here on Monday ordered the chief pontiff of Murugha Math Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru, who is facing charges of sexual abuse of minor girls, to be sent to judicial custody till September 14.

The judicial custody is for a period of nine days.

The police did not seek extension of the police custody in which he was held since September 2.

Following this, the Second Additional District and Sessions Court sent him to judicial custody.

He was taken to the Chitradurga district jail after the court hearing.

The pontiff was in police custody for the last three days.

He was arrested on the night of September 1 and produced before the judge at her residence, who sent him to judicial custody. On September 2 morning, he was presented before the court which had remanded him to police custody.

The Mysuru city police had recently filed an FIR against the seer under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and certain sections of the Indian Penal Code for the alleged sexual abuse.

The FIR was registered against a total of five people, including the warden of the prominent Lingayat Muth's hostel, based on the complaint by an officer of the District Child Protection Unit.

Two high school girls had approached a non-governmental organisation in Mysuru and narrated the alleged abuse, following which it approached the authorities and the case was registered by the police. The case was subsequently shifted to Chitradurga, as it was the place of occurrence of the alleged crime.

The seer, who wields considerable influence in the community, was also booked under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act as well, as one of the victims belongs to the SC community.