Kanchi seer arrested

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script><br /></div> <div align="center" style="position:relative; left: 0"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="center" border="1" width="60.8%"> <colgroup> <col width="100.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" white=""> <div class="Normal" style="" text-align:="" center=""><img src="/photo/921286.cms" alt="/photo/921286.cms" border="0" /></div> </td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" white=""> <div class="Normal">Jayendra Saraswathi, center, Shankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, walks out of the Judicial Magistrate''s Court at Kancheepuram, about 80 kilometers south of Chennai.(<span style="" font-size:="" font-style:="" italic="">PTI</span>)</div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal"><br /><br />In a sensational development, Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati was arrested late Thursday night as the prime accused in the murder of an official of a Kanchipuram temple.<br /><br />The 70-year-old senior pontiff of the Kanchi Matth, whom the opposition parties in Tamil Nadu accused of having considerable clout over the AIADMK, was arrested at 10 pm in Mehboobnagar in Andhra Pradesh by a special team from Tamil Nadu armed with an arrest warrant.<br /><br /><br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal"><br /><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script><br /></div> <div align="center" style="position:relative; left: 0"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="center" border="1" width="60.8%"> <colgroup> <col width="100.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" white=""> <div class="Normal"><img src="/photo/921288.cms" alt="/photo/921288.cms" border="0" /></div> </td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" white=""> <div class="Normal">Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi being produced before the Judicial Magistrate, in Kancheepuram on Friday.(<span style="" font-size:="" font-style:="" italic="">PTI</span>) </div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal"><br /><br />The seer has been remanded to judicial custody till November 26 by a court here. <br /><br />Soon after he was brought to Kancheepuram, about 70 km from here, the Shankaracharya was produced before First Class Judicial Magistrate G Uttamaraj at 6.30 am on Friday. <br /><br />The magistrate, after over an hour-long proceeding, remanded him to judicial custody till November 26. <br /><br />He was later taken to Vellore Central Prison in a police convoy and lodged there. <br /><br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section3"><div class="Normal"><br /><br /><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script><br /></div> <div align="center" style="position:relative; left: 0"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="center" border="1" width="60.8%"> <colgroup> <col width="100.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" white=""> <div class="Normal"><img src="/photo/921290.cms" alt="/photo/921290.cms" border="0" /></div> </td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" white=""> <div class="Normal">Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi being produced before the Judicial Magistrate on Friday after he was arrested in connection to a murder case.(<span style="" font-size:="" font-style:="" italic="">PTI</span>)</div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal"><br /><br />Earlier, the seer was brought here by the state police in a government aircraft early Friday morning. <br /><br />A large number of police personnel, media persons and some devotees were also present at the old Meenambakkam airport. <br /><br />Cuddalore Superintendent of Police C Premkumar, told reporters that the Shankaracharya was arrested as he had "played a significant" role in the murder of Sankararaman, Manager of Varadharaja Perumal Temple at Kancheepuram. The murder took place on September 3, 2004. <br /><br /><br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section4"><div class="Normal"><br /><br /><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script><br /></div> <div align="center" style="position:relative; left: 0"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="center" border="1" width="60.6%"> <colgroup> <col width="100.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" white=""> <div class="Normal"><img src="/photo/921291.cms" alt="/photo/921291.cms" border="0" /></div> </td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" white=""> <div class="Normal">Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi after he was arrested in connection to an alleged murder case of a former Sankara Mutt official in Kancheepuram.(<span style="" font-size:="" font-style:="" italic="">PTI</span>)</div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal"><br /><br />The Kanchi Shankaracharya, who has considerable influence with political leaders cutting across party lines, was in the limelight in the last two years of the NDA rule, acting as a go-between with Muslim leaders and Hindu organisations in the Ayodhya issue. <br /><br />The murder issue had become a political controversy with the main opposition party DMK announcing an agitation while accusing the state government of inaction despite information about the persons involved in the murder.</div> </div>