Sankararaman murder case hearing adjourned

A court in Puducherry on Friday adjourned to September 24 the hearing in the Sankararaman murder case in which Kanchi Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi is the prime accused.

V Arumugham, III Additional District Judge, adjourned the proceedings after Public Prosecutor of Puducherry K Shanmugham informed the Judge that the territorial government had apprised the Supreme Court of the process of appointment of the Public Prosecutor for the case.

The apex court had on July 22 allowed a special leave petition by Jayendra Saraswathi for appointment of a public prosecutor from Puducherry to conduct the trial.

The seer had challenged the continuance of Public Prosecutors appointed by Tamil Nadu government to conduct the trial even after the case was transferred from a Kancheepuram court to Puducherry by the Supreme Court.

Only eight of the 24 accused were present when the case came up for hearing in the court. The two seers were among those who did not appear in the court. They had filed separate petitions for dispensing with their appearance.

Sankararaman, the Manager of Kancheepuram Varadaraja Perumal temple, was murdered on September 3, 2004 inside the temple. Police had accused Jayendra Saraswathi and his junior, Vijayendra Saraswathi of hatching a conspiracy to murder Sankararaman.