Sankararaman murder case: Plea says new tapes point to attempts to bribe judge

The Madras High Court stayed the trial in the Sankararaman murder case, in which Kanchi Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati and his junior Vijayendra Saraswati are the prime accused.
Justice K Saguna had stayed the trial for eight weeks while hearing a petition filed by P Sundararajan, who alleged the tapes of the conversations, indicated attempts by the Kanchi seer to bribe the judge who was hearing the case. The trail was being held in the Puducherry sessions court.
Sankararaman, Manager of Varadaraja Perumal temple in Kancheepuram, who was murdered on the temple premises on September 3, 2004. Though five persons subsequently surrendered, it was emerged during the investigation that they were not the real accused. Jayendra Saraswati was arrested two months after the murder. Later, the junior seers were arrested.
As per the police reports, the murder was an attempt to stop Sankararaman, who used to work in the mutt before he fell out with the seers, from exposing the financial irregularities in the mutt. The Supreme Court shifted the trial to Puduchery from a Chengalpet court after the senior Shankaracharya alleged that a fair trial could not be held in Tamil Nadu.
Sudararajan's petition said some tapes purportedly containing conversations between the Kanchi Sankaracharya, his aide, two mediators, the Judge and his representative ahd emerged in the public domain recently. It said that the tapes pointed to payments made and talked about.
News Reported by AR for newsvision

No comments: