A local court on Tuesday adjourned to April 9 the hearing in Sankararaman murder case in which Kanchi seer Jayendra Saraswathi and his junior Vijayendra Saraswathi are the prime accused.
Principal District and Sessions Judge K. Ramaswamy adjourned the hearing after being informed by Senior Public Prosecutor N. Devadoss that 20 witnesses, who could not be examined during the earlier hearing, have to be resummoned for deposition.
Devadass said 10 witnesses would be examined on April 9, and the others on April 18.
The two seers have been accused of hatching a conspiracy to murder Sankararaman.
Only eight of the 24 accused were present during the hearing today and the absentees included the two seers.
A total of 177 prosecution witnesses have been examined since the commencement of the trial two years ago, out of which 77 have turned hostile.
Sankararaman, manager of Varadarajaperumal temple in Kancheepuram, was allegedly murdered on the premises of the temple on September 3, 2004.
The trial was shifted to Puducherry from Chengalpattu district court on the Supreme Court’s order in October 2005 on a petition by Jayendra Saraswathi.
