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Sankararaman murder case adjourned to Dec 12 Pondicherry: Hearing into the Sankararaman murder case, which involves Kanchi seer Jayendra Saraswathi as one of the main accused, has been adjourned to December 12. The case was adjourned by Principal and District Sessions Judge M Chinnapandi. The case, which also involves Jayendra Saraswathi's junior Vijayendra Saraswathi, was transferred from Chengalpattu court to the Pondicherry court by the Supreme Court on October 26 on a petition filed by the Seer, saying he may not get a fair trial if it is held in Tamil Nadu. Jayendra Saraswathi was arrested on November 11, 2004 for his alleged involvement in the murder of a Kanchipuram temple official, A. Sankararaman on September 3, 2004. Besides the two Seers, there are 22 more accused in the case. Earlier, the Supreme Court had transferred the case out of Tamil Nadu to the Union Territory of Pondicherry following a plea by the Kanchi Shankaracharya that he was apprehensive about getting a fair trial in Tamil Nadu. The order to transfer the case was given by a two-judge bench of the apex court comprising Chief Justice R C Lahoti and Justice G P Mathur. Sankararaman's widow, however, opposed the transfer of the case outside Tamil Nadu, saying that the 375 witnesses in the case were Tamilians by birth and that the legal documents were written in Tamil. Jayendra Saraswathi was arrested on November 11, 2004 on the charge that he conspired and engineered the murder of Sankararaman. After spending two months in jail, the Kanchi seer was released on bail on January 10 by the Supreme Court, which also pulled up the Tamil Nadu police for its failure to gather credible evidence against the Shankaracharya. A total of 24 persons, including junior seer Vijayendra Saraswathi, have been listed as accused in the 1,873-page chargesheet filed in January. Building contractor Ravi Subramaniam has turned an approver. |
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