More witnesses turn hostile in Sankararaman murder case

Four more witnesses turned hostile on Thursady during their examination in a Puducherry court in the trial of Sankararaman murder case in which Kanchi Sankaracharyas Jayendra Saraswathi and his deputy Vijayendra Saraswathi are the prime accused.

A total of nine witnesses were examined by Special Public Prosecutor N Devadoss in the court of Principal District and Sessions Judge D Krishnaraja. Four of them were treated hostile as they contradicted the statements they had made in their deposition before the police and a Kancheepuram court in Tamilnadu earlier. Of the 32 witnesses examined so far, eleven witnesses have turned hostile during examination or cross-examination.

Sankararaman, the Manager of the Sri Varadarajaperumal temple in Kancheepuram, was murdered on September 3, 2004 by a group of persons allegedly at the behest of the Sankaracharya. The two seers have been charged under sections 120-B (conspiracy) and 302 (murder) of Indian Penal code. The judge adjourned the trial to January 20, 2010 when nine more witnesses would be examined. He also fixed January 21 for hearing approver in the case Ravi Subramaniam. Of the 24 accused, only ten were present at the court on Thursday. The two seers were among the absentees.

The trial was transferred to the Puducherry court in October 2005 on the orders of the Supreme Court on a petition by Jayendra Saraswathi.