Court frames charges against Kanchi seer in assault case

CHENNAI: A court on Monday framed charges against Kanchi Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi and 11 others in the Radhakrishnan assault case and fixed August 27 as the date for examination of witnesses.

First additional sessions judge Mohamed Isath Ali framed the charges under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 307 (attempt to murder) read with section 109 (abatement) of the Indian Penal Code thereby setting stage for their trail.

When the judge informed the accused about the charges they pleaded not guilty. The case was posted to August 27 for examination of witnesses.

Besides the seer, the other accused in the case are Mutt manager Sundaresa Iyer, Raghu (brother of junior pontiff Vijayendra Saraswathi), Appu, Kathiravan, Meenatchi Sundaram, Anand, Lakshmanan, Bhoominathan, Kannan, Kumar and Ravi Subramaniam, who turned an approver later.

The Kanchi seer was accused of masterminding the assault on the former mutt associate G Radhakrishnan at his Chennai residence on September 20, 2002.

Charge-sheet in the case was filed in 2005.

The Sankaracharya was arrested in November 2004 in connection with the murder of Kanchipuram Varadaraja Perumal temple manager Sankararaman. A key accused in the murder case had indicated the alleged involvement of the Kanchi seer in the assault case as well.

The seer had been granted bail in both the cases.