Madras HC rejects Kanchi seer's plea

Madras High Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition by Kanchi Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati, the main accused in the Sankararaman murder case, opposing the appearance of special public prosecutor appointed by the Tamil Nadu government in the case even after it was transferred to a Pondicherry court.

Complete Coverage: The Sankaracharya's Arrest

Justice M Jeyapaul rejected the seer's contention that under sections 6, 7 (1) and 9 of Criminal Procedure Code, the Union Territory of Pondicherry alone was empowered to appoint a public prosecutor in its sessions division.

The Sankaracharya had sought a direction to the union territory government to appoint a PP for the case in place of those appointed by the Tamil Nadu government. He also sought to set aside the January 25 order of the principal district-cum-session judge, Pondicherry, dismissing his petition for appointing a PP for the case from the union territory.

The case relates to the September 2004 murder of Kancheepuram Varadaraja Perumal temple official Sankararaman. Besides the seer, 23 others, including Junior Sankaracharya Vijayendra Saraswati, his younger brother Raghu and Mutt manager Sundaresa Iyer, are arraigned in the case.

The Tamil Nadu government had appointed advocates P S Nagarajan and K S Ramasamy as special public prosecutors for the case, which was transferred to Pondicherry by the Supreme Court on a petition from the seer last year.