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Three more prosecution witnesses, including a woman, in the Sankararaman murder case, in which Kanchi Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi and his junior Vijayendra Saraswathi are the main accused, turned hostile during the trial in a local court on Thursday.
Three of the seven witnesses examined by Public Prosecutor N Devadoss before Principal District and Sessions Judge D Krishnaraja contradicted their earlier statements made to the police.
Of the 24 accused in the case, only seven were present on Thursday. The absentees included the seers who were charged under sections 120-B (conspiracy) and 302 (murder) pf the Idnian Penal Code.
The judge adjourned the hearing to Friday.
So far 95 witnesses have been examined since the commencement of the trial here after the Supreme Court shifted the case from the Chengalpattu district court on a petition filed by Jayendra Saraswathi in October 2005.
Fifty-two of the witnesses have turned hostile.
Sankararaman, Manager of Varadaraja Perumal temple in Kancheepuram, was murdered in the temple premises on September 3, 2004.