KADAPA: Sri Kasi Mutt Peethadhipati Sri Raghvendra Theertha Swamiji of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and his assistant K Laksmikanth were arrested by the Kadapa Taluka police on Saturday evening.Superintendent of police A Sundarkumar Das told reporters here on Sunday that acting on a tip-off that two persons were moving suspiciously in the Indiranagar area of the town, Kadapa Taluka CI Bali Reddy, along with his staff, rushed there and took the duo into custody.An amount of Rs 8.81 lakh in cash, 28 panchaloha idols and 21 packets of navaratnas (precious stones) were seized from them.Police assumed the duo, who did not know the local language, to be impostors and were involved in some illegal activities.It came to light during interrogation that the Swamiji was a pontiff of Varanasi-based Sri Kasi Mutt.He hails from Kodangluru village in Thrissur district of Kerala.When he was 17 years, he was adopted by the Kasi Mutt which has properties at Varanasi, Ernakulam and Tirumala.For some time the swamiji has been having a legal dispute over the properties with one Surenderanath who had approached a court in Tirupati claiming that he was the hereditary heir to the Kasi Mutt Peetham and all the properties belonged to him.The court had given its verdict in favour of Surenderanath.On the advice of a Tirupati- based lawyer, Purushottam Reddy, Raghavendra Theertha Swamiji and his assistants went into hiding without handing over the properties to Surenderanath.For the last two months they had been living as fugitives in a rented house at 814, Indira Nagar here.On March 22, a case of missing person was registered at the Ernakulam police station in Kerala.The SP said that the Kadapa Taluka police registered a case against the Varanasi religious leaders and will produce them in court on Monday.After due procedure, the Ernakulam police can take them into their custody, he added.
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