04-01-2005, 04:26 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Sankaraman case: Kanchi seers get chargesheet copies </b>
K Venkataramanan / Chennai
A Magistrate Court has handed over copies of the bulky, 1,873-page chargesheet to all 24 suspects in the Sankararaman murder case, including the two Acharyas of Kanchipuram, Sri Jayendra Saraswati and Sri Vijayendra Saraswati, more than 10 weeks after the police filed the investigation report on January 21.
After a two-hour hearing marked by vehement arguments on procedural issues, First Class Judicial Magistrate for Kanchipuram, G Uttamaraja, adjourned the hearing to April 5, for the examination of approver Ravi Subramaniam, a building contractor who has come forward to be the principal witness for the prosecution after allegedly playing a role in the murder of Sankararaman, a temple official, in September last year.
However, prior to the approver being put in the witness box, the Magistrate will first consider a few applications made by lawyers for the accused, including one that demanded copies of the charge-sheet in Telugu for Appu alias K G Krishnasamy, a city businessman, 'don' and alleged kingpin of the gang of hirelings involved in the murder.
Sri Jayendra came to the court from Kalavai, a monastic retreat in a small village in neighbouring Vellore district, while Sri Vijayendra, came from Chennai. Both are currently on bail, while most of the other accused are detainees under the Goondas Act, a preventive detention law.
The hearing had its emotional and interesting moments. MK Raghu, brother of the junior Acharya, broke down suddenly when he saw the Kanchi seers going forward to receive copies of the chargesheet and had to be consoled by the pontiffs and Sundaresa Iyer, manager of the Kanchi Math.
One of the suspects shouted from the end of the long line of accused that the chargesheet was too bulky for him to carry, and the Court directed the police escort to carry it for him.
Another accused, <b>'Silver Star' alias Stalin, said he could not accept the copy of a chargesheet that had been placed at the feet of Lord Varadaraja Perumal (one of the famous Hindu deities of Kanchipuram) before it was brought to Court. "How can this happen in a secular country? I can accept it if it is placed before Mother Vailankanni (a Christian deity),"</b> he said.
However, Magistrate Uttamaraja sternly told him these copies were prepared by the court and he could not raise such issues at this stage. In a minor gaffe, approver Subramaniam was also given a copy, leading to protests from some defence lawyers who contended that an approver was not entitled to chargesheet copies. The copy was returned to the court.
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Bashing Hindu deities consitutes Secularism.
K Venkataramanan / Chennai
A Magistrate Court has handed over copies of the bulky, 1,873-page chargesheet to all 24 suspects in the Sankararaman murder case, including the two Acharyas of Kanchipuram, Sri Jayendra Saraswati and Sri Vijayendra Saraswati, more than 10 weeks after the police filed the investigation report on January 21.
After a two-hour hearing marked by vehement arguments on procedural issues, First Class Judicial Magistrate for Kanchipuram, G Uttamaraja, adjourned the hearing to April 5, for the examination of approver Ravi Subramaniam, a building contractor who has come forward to be the principal witness for the prosecution after allegedly playing a role in the murder of Sankararaman, a temple official, in September last year.
However, prior to the approver being put in the witness box, the Magistrate will first consider a few applications made by lawyers for the accused, including one that demanded copies of the charge-sheet in Telugu for Appu alias K G Krishnasamy, a city businessman, 'don' and alleged kingpin of the gang of hirelings involved in the murder.
Sri Jayendra came to the court from Kalavai, a monastic retreat in a small village in neighbouring Vellore district, while Sri Vijayendra, came from Chennai. Both are currently on bail, while most of the other accused are detainees under the Goondas Act, a preventive detention law.
The hearing had its emotional and interesting moments. MK Raghu, brother of the junior Acharya, broke down suddenly when he saw the Kanchi seers going forward to receive copies of the chargesheet and had to be consoled by the pontiffs and Sundaresa Iyer, manager of the Kanchi Math.
One of the suspects shouted from the end of the long line of accused that the chargesheet was too bulky for him to carry, and the Court directed the police escort to carry it for him.
Another accused, <b>'Silver Star' alias Stalin, said he could not accept the copy of a chargesheet that had been placed at the feet of Lord Varadaraja Perumal (one of the famous Hindu deities of Kanchipuram) before it was brought to Court. "How can this happen in a secular country? I can accept it if it is placed before Mother Vailankanni (a Christian deity),"</b> he said.
However, Magistrate Uttamaraja sternly told him these copies were prepared by the court and he could not raise such issues at this stage. In a minor gaffe, approver Subramaniam was also given a copy, leading to protests from some defence lawyers who contended that an approver was not entitled to chargesheet copies. The copy was returned to the court.
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Bashing Hindu deities consitutes Secularism.