Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi, arrested near Hyderabad on Thursday night as a prime accused in a murder case, was on Friday remanded to judicial custody till November 26 by a court in Kancheepuram.

Soon after he was brought here, about 70 km from Chennai, the Shankaracharya was produced before First Class Judicial Magistrate G Uttamaraj at 6.30 am.

The magistrate, after over an hour-long proceeding, remanded him to judicial custody till November 26.

He was later taken to Vellore Central Prison in a police convoy and lodged there.

Earlier, the seer was brought to Chennai by the state police in a government aircraft in the wee hours of Friday.

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A large number of police personnel, media persons and some devotees were also present at the old Meenambakkam airport.

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.

The 70-year old senior pontiff was arrested at around 10 p.m. on Thursday night by a special team from Tamil Nadu armed with an arrest warrant.