Tirupati, Dec. 19 (PTI): Appu, one of the prime accused in the Sankararaman murder case in which Kanchi Sankaracharya has been arrested, is understood to have surrendered today to the police in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh.

Appu alias Krishnawswamy, who police alleged had arranged the killers of Sankararaman, the former official of the Kanchi Mutt and later the Varadarajaperumal temple in Kancheepuram, gave himself up to a team of Tamil Nadu police at the house of his brother-in-law in Balakrishnapuram, 50 km. from here.

There was, however, no official word from the police in either Tamil Nadu or Andhra Pradesh on Appu's surrender.

Appu is believed to have told the police that he was not involved in the crime.

Police have been on the look out for Appu, whose photograph of doing a "pada pooja" of Jayendra Saraswathi was splashed in the media recently, and a building contractor Ravi Subramaniam ever since the murder.

The Tamil Nadu police team had even scoured Dekhi sometime back in search of the two. Subramaniam is yet to be traced.