A juvenile court on Monday refused to grant bail to an American teenager charged with murder after his mother was found dead at a resort in western India, a prosecutor said.

The court sided with police who argued 16-year-old Joncarlo Patton should not be set free given the seriousness of the alleged offense, said prosecutor N.K. Sankhala.

Patton was arrested at an airport on Aug. 13, a day after his mother, Cindy Iannarelli from Cecil, Pennsylvania, was found with her throat slit at a resort in the town of Osian in Rajasthan state.

Police have formally charged the teenager with murder and destruction of evidence. Patton denies the charges.

Patton's father, University of Pittsburgh business associate professor G. Richard Patton, who arrived in India over the weekend, attended Monday's court proceedings in Jodhpur, a tourist hub in Rajasthan. The judge granted Patton's request to meet his son in the juvenile home.