The Tamil Nadu police have shocking but solid information on the links of Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi with the murderers of Sankararaman, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa told the Tamil Nadu assembly on Wednesday.
She broke her silence on the seer's arrest by making a suo motu statement.
Based on information provided by two people arrested in Chennai on November 9, the police got information about the seer's links with those hired to murder the temple official, she said.
The Kanchi seer's arrest: The Full Coverage
He also had a hand in drawing money from the Kanchi Mutt's bank account and handing it over to the killers, she said.
The CM denied the charge of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murali Manohar Joshi and National Democratic Alliance convenor George Fernandes of violation of law in effecting the arrest. She said all legal formalities were observed right from his arrest till he was lodged at the Vellore prison.
A case of an attack on Mutt associate Radhakrishnan and his wife on September 20, 2002, had also been handed over to the police team investigating the murder case, she said.
In that case, too, the police had got information that Jayendra Saraswathi had conspired to finish off Radhakrishnan as the seer suspected that he had written letters making allegations against him, she added.