A principal sessions court in Chennai on Friday refused bail to Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati in an assault case.
The Kanchi seer is accused of masterminding the assault on a former mutt associate, G Radhakrishnan. Assailants had attacked Radhakrishnan, his wife and an attendant with sharp weapons at his Chennai residence on September 20, 2002.
Principal Sessions Judge P Murugesan dismissed the bail petition saying it was not maintainable.
The judge also dismissed the bail applications filed by six other accused in the case. The judge said it appeared there are reasonable grounds to believe that the petitioners are guilty of offences punishable with life imprisonment.
The six included the two key accused in the case, Ananthkumar and Lakshmanan.
The Shankaracharya has been lodged in the Vellore jail since his arrest on November 11 in connection with the murder of Kanchipuram Varadaraja Perumal temple manager Sankararaman.
A key accused in the murder case had indicated the alleged involvement of the Kanchi seer in the assault case as well.
Based on the statement of the accused, the police formally served the arrest orders on the acharya in the assault case on November 23.