The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Charge sheet copies not yet ready

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 11, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Charge sheet copies not yet ready

By K.T. Sangameswaran and V. Venkatasubramanian

KANCHEEPURAM, FEB.10. Copies of the charge sheet in the Sankararaman murder case were not furnished to the accused today, as expected.

As the copies were not ready, the Kancheepuram judicial magistrate-I, G. Uthamaraj, adjourned the case to February 24.

All the 24 accused, including the senior Kanchi Acharya, Sri Jayendra Saraswathi, and his junior, Sri Vijayendra Saraswathi, were present in the court.

After taking cognisance of the final report filed by the Special Investigation Team — probing the murder of the manager of the Kancheepuram Varadaraja Perumal temple — on January 21, the magistrate posted the case to today.

The junior Acharya, remanded to judicial custody and lodged in the Chennai Central prison (the Madras High Court ordered his release on conditional bail today), was brought in a police van along with 19 other accused including his brother, Raghu, and the Sankara Mutt manager, N. Sundaresa Iyer, to the court at 11.10 a.m. Till the arrival of the senior Acharya, who was released on bail and is now camping at Kalavai, the accused were seated inside the van.

When one of the defence lawyers was speaking to the junior Acharya, a senior police official shouted to his subordinates not to permit the meeting.

At this, the lawyer was requested to move away and he did so. Soon after, another lawyer made a vain bid to meet the Acharya.

At 11.55 a.m., Sri Jayendra Saraswathi arrived in a Mutt van, followed by Appu, accused 3, who came in a police van from the Cuddalore Central prison. Two other accused, Senthilkumar and Arumugam, who were on bail, had already come to the court.

When counsel K.S. Dinakaran told the court that he was not permitted to meet the junior Acharya, the prosecution said that for security considerations lawyers were not allowed to meet their clients.

Remand extended

Later, the magistrate extended the judicial remand of the accused concerned till February 24. Those who were enlarged on bail were asked to appear that day.

A lawyer said advocates could not meet their clients in jail as their applications were sent to the Home Secretary for approval. Following a defence request, the court permitted lawyers to meet two of the accused for five minutes.

Tight security

Security was tight on the court premises, where barricades were put up to regulate the crowd. Presspersons and photographers were allowed inside only when the court started functioning at 10.30 a.m. The court hall was overcrowded.

In the evening, the judicial magistrate court-I extended the judicial custody of accused-turned-approver Ravi Subramaniam up to February 24.

Bail plea dismissed

At Chengalpattu, the principal district judge, G.M. Akbar Ali, dismissed the bail applications of three of the accused in the murder case, `Dil' Pandian, Arumugam and Sathish, according to public prosecutor K. Arumugam.

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