Murder case: Junior seer Vijayendra Saraswati gets bail

Murder case: Junior seer Vijayendra Saraswati gets bail

Thursday, February 10, 2005 (Chennai/Kanchipuram):

The Madras High Court today granted bail to junior Kanchi seer Vijayendra Saraswati in the Sankararaman murder case.

The court has set five conditions for giving bail to the junior Shankaracharya. He has been released on a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and two sureties of the same amount.

While granting bail, Justice M Thanikachalam directed Vijayendra Saraswati not to go out of Chennai.

He was also asked to give an affidavit saying he will not tamper with evidence.

Surrender passport

Besides surrendering his passport, the junior pontiff will also have to report at the Thousand Lights Police station every Sunday.

Vijayendra Saraswati, the second accused in the Sankararaman murder case, was arrested on January 10.

Incidentally the same day, senior pontiff Jayendra Saraswathi - the prime accused in the case - was released on bail by the Supreme Court.

On February 1, the junior pontiff had filed a bail application in the Madras high court after he was denied bail by a Chengalpattu sessions court on January 27.

In his appeal filed in the high court, Vijayendra said the sessions judge had dismissed his bail plea without "properly appreciating the fact, circumstances and judgement of the Supreme court".

Seers to get chargesheets

Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati is expected to appear before the Kanchipuram Judicial Magistrate Court today.

The seer is likely to receive the copy of chargesheet filed against him in the Sankararaman murder case.

All the 24 accused, including the junior seer Vijendra Saraswati, will also receive copies of the chargesheet.

The Special Investigation Team's nearly 2,000-page chargesheet has cited 370 witnesses and contains 712 documents.

Documentary evidence

The seers are facing charges of criminal conspiracy in the Sankararam murder case. The police case rests largely on copies of 39 letters written by the murdered temple manager to the pontiffs.

The letters condemned the seers' activities with regard to administration of the Mutt as well as their personal character and conduct.

Sankararam's wife Padma had handed over the letters to the police. Some letters were also recovered from the accused.

Police say after this the seers decided to order the killing of Sankararaman.

The police is also basing its case on:
Two blood-stained knives used by the actual hired killers Ambigapathi and Mattu Bhaskar and a revolver
Six motorcycles bearing registration numbers TN 02 L 0469, TN 02 S 4479, TN 22 U 3267, TN 09 D 9851, TN 04 A 1013 and TN 01 Z 1372 used in the commission of the crime
A telephone directory and a cell phone number 9364324348 used by Jayendra Saraswati
Two copies of receipts for alleged lump sum payments given by the approver Ravi Subramaniam at the instance of the pontiff to the other accused Appu and Kathiravan
Cheques and vouchers to prove disbursement of money to the approver Ravi Subramaniam under the guise of genuine transactions and a cell phone number 9884222354 recovered from the third accused - Mutt manager Sundaresan
Requisition letters for conversion of demand drafts of Indian Bank and ICICI Bank to make use of the same for unaccounted purposes with a view to execute the common design of conspiracy
A cell phone number 9842331314 recovered from the junior seer's brother Raghu
Two receipts for Rs 6 lakh and Rs 1.2 lakh and a cheque signed by Ravi Subramaniam and Sundaresan
Air tickets from Chennai to Mumbai kept in a sweet box given by Jayendra Saraswati on the occasion of Krishna Jayanthi recovered from the approver Ravi Subramaniam
These are documents the Shankaracharya's lawyers will try to drill holes in.

But the police say that documents, unlike witnesses, cannot turn hostile. They claim its crucial evidence in the murder case.

from ndtv.com