The Madras High Court on Thursday night restrained the Tamil Nadu police from arresting the Kanchi seer Jayendra Saraswati till December 20 in a case pertaining to alleged theft of jewelery and a Shiva linga from a temple in Tamil Nadu.

Complete Coverage: The Shankaracharya's arrest

Justice Sardar Zacria Husain gave this order after K S Dinakaran, counsel for the seer, rushed to his residence on coming to know that his client may be arrested at any moment as the case pertaining to the alleged theft was registered late Thursday evening.

After issuing the interim order, the judge posted the case for hearing to December 20.    

Earlier in the day, the seer had filed a petition in the High Court seeking anticipatory bail apprehending arrest in the case.

Besides the seer, seven others have been named in a complaint recently lodged by an employee of the temple at Tiruvarur.

The complainant has sought action under IPC sections 379 (theft) and 380 (theft in a dwelling house).

In his petition, Jayendra Saraswati claimed that the Tamil Nadu government and the state police, 'aggrieved' over the bail he secured from the Supreme Court in the Sankararaman murder case, were "falsely involving him out of spite" in the case filed in Kottur police station in Tiruvarur.

The complainant had alleged on November 12, 2005, the seer had gone to the Periyakudi Siva temple with some aides, who, on his instruction, removed valuable jewels buried under the "peetam" (pedestal) of the idol and the idol itself, the petition said.

The seer contended the allegation against him "is false, frivolous, baseless, motivated and only an attempt by the state machinery to somehow spite him and make his life miserable."