Puducherry: A local court Monday adjourned to October 21, the hearing in the Sankararaman murder case in which Kanchi Seer Jayendra Saraswathi and his junior Vijayendra Saraswathi are the main accused.
Only five of the 24 accused were present in court today when the case came up before before Principal District and Sessions Judge T Ramaswamy.
The main accused were among the absentees.
The two seers have been charged under IPC sections relating to criminal conspiracy and murder.
Velan, a witness examined today turned hostile during cross-examination and denied giving any statement regarding the case to police. He also told the court that police had not questioned him earlier.
The court dispensed with the examination of another witness Sankaran, a retired transport department clerk in Chennai, as he could not bring with him documents relating to
the case.
Special Public prosecutor N Devadoss later told newsmen that Sankaran was not examined as retired staff could not have access to the documents in the department.
As many as 96 witnesses have so far been examined since
commencement of the trial here after the Supreme Court shifted
the case from Chengalpattu district court on a petition filed
by Jayendra Saraswathi in October 2005.
Of them 53 have turned hostile.
Sankararaman, manager of Varadarajaperumal temple in
Kancheepuram, was allegedly murdered in the temple premises on
September 3, 2004.
PTI
First Published: Monday, September 27, 2010, 13:58