Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi, the pontiff of Kanchi Mutt and the prime accused in the Sankararaman murder case, denied on Monday charges that he had attempted to influence the judge hearing the case.
Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi, the pontiff of Kanchi Mutt and the prime accused in the Sankararaman murder case, denied on Monday charges that he had attempted to influence the judge hearing the case.
“I have never met or interacted with the judge in question except once, and that was on August 18, when there was a hearing of my case in his court. That was the only occasion when I have met or spoken to the judge and have never interacted with him on any matter beyond that, money or any other," the seer told reporters.
The Madras High Court on Friday had stayed for eight weeks the trial in the case at the Puducherry Sessions court following a petition filed by a Chennai lawyer alleging an attempt to influence the verdict.
Interestingly, T Ramaswamy, the the district and sessions judge, Pondicherry, had set September 5 as the date to begin the arguments in the case.
Petitioner P Sundararajan told the court that some video footage on purported conversation between the Shankaracharya and some others has emerged regarding alleged payments made and to be made by the Seer to influence the judgment in the case.
There is someone who is not interested in concluding the case, and wants to prolong it, or, there is someone wanting to make money creating such a situation - and they have brought about such a development. I only wish to tell the well-wishers to put faith in dharma, justice and god fearing values and keep peace,” said the Sankaracharya. He said the only person he ever paid money to was the advocate representing him in the case.
On his purported telephone conversations seeking to influence the judgement, Jayendra said he neither owns a phone nor does he communicate through phone. The phone, the diaries that were in the past, had all been taken away by police, he said, adding, he always talks to the media and people directly.
Sankararaman, manager of Varadarajaperumal temple in Kancheepuram, was murdered in the premises of the temple on September 3, 2004. The two seers have been charged with entering into a conspiracy and hiring a gang to murder Sankararaman out of previous enmity.
A total of 189 witnesses have been examined and cross-examined since commencement of the trial in April 2009, of whom 87 have turned hostile.
The trial was shifted to Pondicherry from a Chengalpattu court on a directive by the Supreme Court on a petition filed by the Sankaracharya in October 2005.
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