The seer was arrested on Thursday night, a week after an FIR was registered against him for alleged sexual assault of two minor students.  The pontiff was brought down to the court from the district hospital where he was admitted to after he complained of chest pain.

Shivamurthy, who was arrested on Thursday night, was handed over to judicial custody. Hours after he was jailed, the authorities brought him to the district government hospital in Chitradurga town. As he was in judicial custody, the cops had approached the court seeking police custody for five days.

The Second Additional District and Sessions Court Judge BK Komala, who is also the judicial officer of the district, asked the police as to why she was not informed about the hospitalisation of Shivamurthy and asked the jail superintendent to appear before her. By afternoon, the jail superintendent appeared before the court and explained that the seer’s health condition had deteriorated and that he needed to be shifted to a hospital in Bengaluru. According to the sources, the jail superintendent did not furnish any documents at that point to support the claim.

Judge Komala was not convinced and she asked the jail authorities to produce the seer before her.  Around 4.05 pm, Shivamurthy appeared before the court. He broke down while the case was being heard. Judge Komala handed over Shivamurthy to the police for three days and also directed them to monitor his health.

The court directed to bring Shivamurthy to court on September 5 at 11 am.

Following the pronouncement of the judgment, followers of the seer staged a protest outside the court, saying that the arrest was a part of a conspiracy.

Treatment to the pontiff continued at the district government hospital after police custody was granted and sources said that they would question him once the doctors permitted.

On Thursday night, after the arrest, the seer was taken to Challakere police station, 30 km from Chitradurga town and later produced before the magistrate for judicial custody.

Meanwhile, the warden of the hostel where the girls had been staying, was also arrested on Friday and the court handed over the accused to judicial custody.

A police complaint was lodged on August 26 against the mutt chief, who heads the Jagadguru Murugharajendra Vidyapeetha in Karnataka’s Chitradurga, under the POCSO Act and IPC section 376 relating to rape. The warden is accused number 2 in the case. A police officer said that the two girls had complained about the warden beating them up whenever they raised the issue of their sexual assault.

The Chitradurga district police had questioned the warden on Thursday, and formally arrested her on Friday.

The Mysuru police had filed a case after the minors told members of the state Child Welfare Committee that they were sexually assaulted between January 1, 2019 and June 6, 2022. The case was later transferred to Chitradurga district police.

Separately, the warden had filed a complaint against former JD (S) MLA Basavarajan and his wife Sowbhagya, alleging that they had kidnapped the minors and also harassed her. A court granted bail to the couple on Thursday.