Chennai: Justifying the arrest of the Kanchi Seer, Jayendra Saraswathi, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa yesterday (Nov 17, 2004) informed the State Assembly that the police had "shocking information" on the role of the Acharya in the murder of Sankararaman, a temple official.

Meanwhile, the Madras High Court had inconclusive arguments on the Seer's bail petition and would resume hearing on Thursday (Nov 18, 2004). This means that the Sankaracharya is all set to be produced before a Kancheepuram court when it will hear a petition seeking police custody of the Seer.

Spotlight: Kanchi Jayendra Saraswathi's Arrest

In her first reaction to the Seer' arrest, Jayalalithaa told the Assembly that on information provided by two persons captured by police at Chennai on November 9 and article seized from them, the police got "vital" information about the Swamiji's links with the hirelings, engaged to murder Sankararaman, a former Mutt employee.

She also ruled out taking over the administration of the mutt, as demanded by the DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) president M Karunanidhi.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs staged a walkout from the house after one of it members H Raja, who demanded that the Seer should be immediately released, was evicted from the house for "obstruction of proceedings".

At Kancheepuram, NDA (National Democratic Alliance) convenor George Fernandes met the Junior Pontiff of the Mutt, Vijayendra Saraswathi. Later he decried the Acharya's arrest.