Kancheepuram, Jan 10 (PTI): The junior sankaracharya of Kanchi mutt, Vijayendra Saraswathi, who was arrested here this evening, was remanded to 15 days judicial custody by a local court tonight.

He was later taken to Chennai central prison, where he would be lodged.

The Judicial magistrate-I, G Uthamraj, before whom the junior seer was produced, remanded him to judicial custody till January 24.

Vijayendra Saraswathi told the magistrate that all the charges framed against him were "false."

"I have not done anything wrong," he told the magistrate.

He also pleaded with the magistrate to allow him to complete the "dhanur masya pooja" today.

The junior seer has been charged under Sec.302 (murder), read with sec.34 (act committed with common intention) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.

The arrest was in connection with the murder of Sankararaman, a temple official.

A police team led by Kancheepuram Superintendent of Police K Premkumar, who heads the Special Investigation Team on the murder case, took the 35-year-old 70th pontiff wading through a crowd of devotees from the front door at around 6 p.m. into a waiting police van.

The arrest of Vijayendra Saraswati, who had been holding fort ever since the arrest of the senior Sankaracharya on Diwali day on November 11 in Karimanagar in Andhra Pradesh, came hours after the Supreme Court ordered that Jayendra should be released on bail with the condition that he would not go to the mutt till the police files the chargesheet in the Sankararaman case.

Vijayendra, who was initiated into sainthood in 1983, had already been once summoned and questioned in the murder case by the SIT, which last cancelled its one more summons to him for questioning.

Though there was no official word on the arrest, it is believed that Vijayendra Saraswati was taken into custody in the case relating to the murder in September of the official of the famous Varadarajaperumal temple, who was earlier associated with the mutt, said to be centuries old.

Vijayendra was taken to the forest bungalow from where the SIT has been functioning.

Tresspass alleged

Mutt's lawyer Y Thyagarajan told reporters later that the police party "simply barged" into the mutt when the junior seer was performing his puja rituals.

"We do not not know under what sections the junior seer has been taken into custody," he said adding the entry of the police into the mutt was nothing but a "tresspass".

BJP and sangh parivar organisations condemned arrest of the junior Sankaracharya as "malafide" and called it an attempt to "take over" the mutt.

In its order releasing Jayendra Saraswati on bail, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice R C Lahoti said Tamil Nadu had gathered "no evidence or material" against him in the murder case.

"We are of the opinion that prima facie a strong case has been made out for grant of bail to Sankaracharya," the Bench comprising Justice Lahoti, Justice G P Mathur and Justice P P Naolekar said.

The Court directed the seer to deposit his passport with the investigating agency and cooperate in the probe as well as appear before the police as and when required for the purpose.

Seer's release

The Kanchi Seer, who was granted bail by the Supreme Court today in the 'Sankararaman Murder case', is likely to come out of jail only on Wednesday, according to Krishnasamy, a lawyer representing the Seer.

Talking to reporters outside the central prison in Vellore where the seer has been lodged since November 12 last, the advocate said he had visited the Sankaracharya this afternoon but was unable to speak to him as the Seer was observing 'silence' (mouna vrat) on account of Amavasai (new moon day) today.

Till tomorrow evening, the period is considered inauspicious, he said.

According to Krishnasamy, copy of the Apex Court order granting bail to the Seer was yet to be received.

Joshi's charge

BJP today said the arrest of junior Sankaracharya Vijayendra Saraswati exposed the Tamil Nadu Government's intention to take control of the Kanchi Mutt and install a "puppet" to administer its affairs.

Reacting to the latest development, senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi also indicated in New Delhi that the party would make the arrest of the two Sankaracharyas and "complicity" of the Centre in them an issue in the coming assembly elections in Bihar, Jharkhand and Haryana.

"With the Kanchi Shankaracharya prevented by the Supreme Court from entering the Kanchi Mutt and the arrest of the junior pontiff, there is now a vacuum in the management of the Mutt. It is clear that the state government's motive is to take over the Kanchi Mutt and install a puppet," Joshi told PTI.

He said the verdict of the Supreme Court granting bail to the seer "for lack of evidence was beyond the tolerance of the prosecution and their sole aim is to tarnish the reputation of the Mutt in whatever possible manner."

Senior party leader Sushma Swaraj, who has been deputed to receive the senior pontiff on his release from Vellore jail, would be giving her assessment of the situation on her return and the party would decide on its future course of action thereafter, Joshi said.

To a question whether BJP would make the arrest of the two Shankaracharyas an issue in the coming Assembly polls in Haryana, Bihar and Jharkhand, he said, "Everything should not be linked to the elections but people in India are spiritual-minded and they are seeing all that is happening. They know that police cannot arrest the senior Shankaracharya in Congress-ruled Andhra Pradesh without the complicity of the Centre.

"People will give appropriate response at the appropriate time," Joshi said.

Malafide, says Jaitley

Criticising the arrest of junior pontiff of Kanch Mutt in the Sanakaraman murder case, BJP today said the Tamil Nadu Government's action "stemmed" from its anger against the Supreme Court's decision to grant bail to Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati in the case.

"The action of the Tamil Nadu Police is completely malafide," Party General Secretary Arun Jaitley told PTI.

He said the arrest of Vijeyendra Saraswati appeared to be stemming out of the State Government's anger at the apex Court judgement. "It is an affront to the rule of Law," he said.

Saying that the State police with this action has forefeited its "moral authority" to probe the case, Jaitley demanded a CBI probe into the case saying "the investigation must now be conducted by CBI and CBI alone."

Jayalalithaa should resign: Mahajan

Mysore, Jan 10 (PTI) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa should resign owning moral responsibility in the wake of the Supreme Court granting bail to Kanchi seer Jayendra Saraswathi, BJP National General Secretary Pramod Mahajan today said.

The Tamil Nadu Government had failed to produce evidence about the seer's involvement in the Sankararaman murder case, he claimed.

Participating in a meet-the-press programme, organised by district journalists association, Mahajan welcomed the apex court's order and said BJP always stood by the seer and had pleaded for the case being shifted out of Tamil Nadu.

About elections to the Bihar Assembly, Mahajan said an agreement on sharing of seats with JD(U) had been reached.

Central intervention demanded

Charging the Tamil Nadu Government with crossing "constitutional limits", the BJP today demanded immediate central intervention to secure the release of junior Kanchi Seer Vijayendra Saraswati.

"The Jayalalithaa Government in Tamil Nadu is behaving like an extra constitutional authority. Unnerved by the Supreme Court's decision to grant bail to Jayendra Saraswati, the state Government has not only tried to tarnish the Mutt's reputation but also posed a challenge to the apex court," party Vice-President Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told PTI.

Accusing the state Government of "violating all Constitutional norms", he demanded immediate central intervention to secure the release of the junior Pontiff.

"If the Centre does not intervene, it would mean the state Government was taking all these steps with the connivance of the Union Government," he said.