Chitradurga (Karnataka), Lingayat seer Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru who has been arrested for sexually assaulting minor girls, was on Friday shifted from the jail to a hospital in Karnataka's Chitradurga district after developing chest pain and breathlessness.

Police sources said that the accused seer who was lodged in prison following his arrest on Thursday night, collapsed complaining of chest pain and breathlessness.

He is presently being treated at the emergency ward of the hospital, where doctors are conducting ECG, echo tests and chest scan.

The sources added that he might be shifted to the Jayadeva hospital or the Apollo hospital in Bengaluru for additional treatment.

They further said that due to the development, the investigation might be hampered as they were preparing to take him into custody.

The seer is facing charges under the Prevention of Children against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. He is alleged raping girls aged 15 and 16, with help of a lady warden, junior pontiff and other staff.

Earlier in the day, a district and sessions court sent him to a 14-day judicial custody.