A court in Tamil Nadu Friday extended till Dec 10 the judicial remand of Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi, arrested and jailed on charges of murder.

Judicial magistrate G. Uthamaraja passed the order at Kanchipuram town, where the pontiff is based. He is the same magistrate who originally sent the seer to judicial custody for a fortnight following his arrest Nov 11.

On Friday, the magistrate extended the judicial remand, leading to his imprisonment at the Vellore prison, by another 15 days.

Uthamaraja came to the court and pronounced a one-line order saying: "I have decided to extend the judicial remand by 15 days."

The pontiff's counsel did not contest the extension.

The Shankaracharaya is the prime accused in the murder of A. Sankararaman, a follower of the Kanchipuram mutt who began to put out letters accusing Jayendra Saraswathi of wrongdoing.

In an unrelated move, the state government has re-posted to Kanchipuram the same officer who was the superintendent of police in Kanchipuram when Sankararaman was killed Sep 3.

K. Premkumar was transferred from Kanchipuram to neighbouring Cuddalore a day before the pontiff was arrested. He heads the Special Investigating Team probing the case.

--Indo-Asian News Service