Puducherry: A local court Tuesday adjourned to
March 30 hearing in the Sankararaman murder case in which the Kanchi seer Jayendra Saraswathi and his junior Vijayendra Saraswathi are the prime accused.
Special Public Prosecutor N.Devadoss said the stay on the
trial given by Madras High court on August 25 on a writ petition filed by a Chennai-based advocate was still in force and hence the proceedings stood adjourned.
The petitioner had sought a stay on the trial and a
direction to Registrar (Vigilance) to commence a statutory
investigation by filing an FIR on his complaint regarding
video tapes containing purported phone conversations allegedly
to influence judgement in the case.
Only six of the 24 accused were present in the court
today when the case came up before Principal District and
Sessions Judge T Ramasamy and the absentees included the two
seers who have been charged under IPC sections 302 (murder)
and 120-B (criminal conspiracy).
Sankararaman was the Manager in the Varadarajaperumal
temple in Kancheepuram and was allegedly murdered in his
office on the premises of the temple on September 3, 2004. The
trial was shifted from Chengalpattu court to Puducherry as per
the Supreme Court order given on a petition filed before the
apex court by the Kanchi seer in October 2005.
A total of 189 witnesses were examined and cross-examined
in the case and of them 87 have turned hostile.
PTI
