New Delhi: In a major relief to Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi and his junior Vijayendra Saraswathi, a special Court today acquitted them along with 21 others for lack of evidence in the sensational murder case of a temple official in Kancheepuram. Pronouncing the verdict in a packed court hall amid tight security, Principal District and Sessions Judge C S Murugan declared that all the 23 accused out of 24 stood acquitted of the charges made out against them as “there is no incriminating evidence against the accused. One of the accused Kathiravan was murdered in March this year in Chennai.
The judge said the motive for the commission of murder was not proved, since Padma and Anand Sharma, wife and son of murdered Varadarajaperumal Temple Manager, A Sankararaman respectively, had failed to support prosecution case. The two Kanchi Seers were among those who had been charged with criminal conspiracy and murder of Sankararaman, who was hacked to death in the temple premises on the evening of September 3, 2004. The judge referred to “undue interest and active participation” by the then Superintendent of Police of Kancheepuram, Prem Kumar in the probe, which also found mention in the Supreme Court order while granting bail to Jayendra Saraswathi.
The judge observed that the police officer’s action was much beyond what was required under law during the investigation. Due to intervention of Prem Kumar in the investigation, a fair and proper was not done by the Chief Investigation Officer (CIO), the order stated. The CIO failed to do independent investigation and did not place all the materials collected by some of the investigating officers other than those arrested by them, the judge said. In a virtual censure of the action of the police officials during the course of investigation, the court observed that some witnesses were threatened to consent for recording statements under Section 164 Cr. PC and some of the accused were kept in illegal custody. Neither substantial nor reliable evidence is available on record to corroborate the testimony of hostile witnesses or evidence of prosecution witnesses, who conducted the identification parade to fix the identification of the accused. No incriminating evidence is available against the accused. Material objects seized from the accused are not proved,” the judge said. All accused were present when the verdict was pronounced.
The sensational case that hogged national and international limelight was transferred to neighbouring Puducherry in 2005 by the Supreme Court on a petition filed by Jayendra Saraswathi. Sankararaman’s son Anand Sharma in his immediate reaction said, “It is shocking and unbelievable” and wanted to know who his father’s killers were. The family will go through the judgement and decide the next course of action including filing of an appeal challenging the acquittal, he said. Speaking to reporters, senior counsel for accused K M Subramanian hailed the order as “a very good judgement”.
“The prosecution witnesses have failed to prove the case. It is not only a relief for the Kanchi Mutt but also the entire Hindu community across the world,” he said. The senior seer’s arrest on Diwali day in November 2004 in Andhra Pradesh and later his heir apparent, Vijayendra during Jayalalithaa’s previous rule had shocked the mutt and its followers. During the trial, 189 witnesses were examined between 2009 and 2012, of which 83 turned hostile including Ravi Subramaniam, a civil contractor who had earlier turned approver in the case. Sankararaman, who was murdered in his office room in the temple on September 3, 2004 with sharp-edged weapons, had levelled charges of financial misappropriation against the two seers and over the way they managed the affairs of the Mutt. The police from Vishnukanchi station took up investigation following a complaint and cases were registered against the two seers under IPC sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 302 IPC in connection with the murder.
Bureau Report
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