The Hindu : Front Page : Bail for Kanchi Acharya, Sri Vijayendra arrested

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jan 11, 2005

Front Page

Front Page

Bail for Kanchi Acharya, Sri Vijayendra arrested

By V. Venkatasubramanian

The junior Kanchi Sankaracharya, Sri Vijayendra Saraswathi, coming out of the Kanchi Mutt after his arrest on Monday. -- Photo: A. Muralitharan

KANCHEEPURAM, JAN. 10 . Just hours after the Supreme Court granted bail to the Kanchi Sankaracharya, Sri Jayendra Saraswathi, in the Sankararaman murder case today, the Tamil Nadu police took into custody the junior Acharya, Sri Vijayendra Saraswathi, in connection with the same case.

Sri Vijayendra Saraswathi, charged with criminal conspiracy and murder, was remanded to 15 days' judicial custody by the Judicial Magistrate, Kancheepuram, G. Uthamaraj, and lodged in the Chennai Central Prison late in the evening.

"All charges framed against me are false. I have not done anything wrong," the junior Acharya told the Magistrate. The Acharya wanted to be allowed to complete the `dhanur masya puja', but the request was turned down. He is charged under Section 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy) read with Section 302 (murder), and Section 201(suppression of evidence) read with Section 34 (commission of acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.

As the advocates of the Mutt were busy preparing for the release of Sri Jayendra Saraswathi, a team of about 70 policemen, led by the Superintendent of Police, K. Premkumar, entered the Mutt at 5 p.m. and informed the junior Acharya that he was being arrested.

Sri Vijayendra Saraswathi came out of the Mutt around 5.50 p.m. and boarded the Kanchi Mutt van to proceed to the investigation bungalow as hundreds of Sankara Mutt followers crowded around him. He was taken to the bungalow of the Special Investigation Team for questioning prior to being produced before the Magistrate.

The junior Acharya has been booked under the same sections under which the police had arrested Sri Jayendra Saraswathi, on the night of November 11 at Mahbubnagar, near Hyderabad. The prosecution had mentioned the junior Acharya's name in its counter-affidavit filed before the Supreme Court in connection with the Sri Jayendra Saraswathi's bail plea.

So far, 24 persons, including Sri Jayendra Saraswathi and two others — Sundaresa Iyer, Mutt manager, and Raghu, a Mutt associate and brother of the junior Acharya — from the Mutt have been arrested in the murder case. Now with the arrest of the junior Acharya, four persons from the Mutt have been arrested.

The police team questioned the junior Acharya in connection with Sankararaman murder case on December 26 and again on December 28. Fresh summons were served on him on the evening of January 3 asking him to appear before the Special Investigation Team on the morning of January 4. But the police withdrew the summons the same night.

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