| More on the continuing drama of the Murdered Mutt Manager... |
Police in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu yesterday filed formal charges against the high priests of the Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt, a once powerful Hindu religious institution, accusing them of the murder of a temple manager. The charges filed before a local magistrate in this town lists the senior pontiff of the Mutt, Jayendra Saraswathi, as the first accused and the junior pontiff, Vijayendra Saraswathi, as the second accused in the murder case. The 1,873 page charge sheet also lists 23 other accused, one of whom has turned a state witness.The two pontiffs are charged with ordering the killing of Sankararaman, who was murdered within the temple precincts on Sept. 3 last year. Superintendent of Police K. Premkumar, who is heading a special investigating team, filed the charges in the chambers of the magistrate, although the day was a holiday for courts on account of Eid Al-Adha. "We have enough corroborative and circumstantial evidence to prove the case against all the accused, including the two shankaracharyas," Premkumar said later. The police have filed 178 documents and a list of 370 witnesses along with the charge sheet. But they are mainly relying on the confessional statements of one of the key accused, Ravi Subrmaniam — a building contractor who is alleged to have made the payments to the hired killers. They have also based their case on bank transactions and records of telephone calls between some of the alleged killers and the Shankaracharyas. The accused will be given copies of the charges by Tuesday.
While Jayendra Saraswathi was arrested Nov 11 at Mehboob Nagar in the neighboring state of Andhra Pradesh, Vijayendra was arrested Jan 12. If found guilty, the accused could get anything from three years rigorous imprisonment to death penalty. The trial though may take a couple of months to begin. A. Shanmugam, lead counsel for the Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt, said the defense would now formally move the Supreme Court to permit Jayendra Saraswathi to return to the Mutt. The Supreme Court, which granted Jayendra bail last week, had directed him to stay away from the Mutt until the charges were filed. Jayendra is now camping at an ashram at Kalavai, about 40 km from here.