Sankararaman murder case: Hearing adjourned to October 30

A local court today adjourned to October 30 the hearing in

the Sankararaman murder case in which Kanchi Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi

and his junior Vijayendra are the prime accused.Special Public Prosecutor N Devadoss told reporters outside

the court that the Madras High Court had dismissed a petition filed by Ananda

Sharma, son of Sankararaman, seeking direction to transfer the trial from

Puducherry court to the High court.He said he had submitted the copy of High Court order at the

court here today.Twenty of the twenty-four accused were present in the court

when the hearing was resumed before the Principal District and Sessions Judge C

S Murugan. The two seers were among those present at the court.Devadoss said the petitions filed by Padma, widow of

Sankararaman in April before the court here for police protection to her and

family members,re-examination of herself and her children and also action

against Ravi Subramanian, an approver in the case who turned hostile on January

21 last year during the examination of witnesses here, would be taken up at the

next hearing.Sankararaman, Manager of Varadarajaperumal temple in

Kancheepuram in Tamil Nadu, was murdered in the temple premises on September 3,

2004.The two Kanchi seers have been charged under sections 120-B

(criminal conspiracy) and 302 (murder) of the IPC.A total of 189 witnesses including Padma, her son and

daughter were examined during the trial between 2010 and 2011.Eighty-three of the witnesses turned hostile during the

trial, shifted here by the Supreme Court on a petition by Jayendra Saraswathi.The trial was shifted from Chengalpet court (Tamil Nadu) to

Puducherry following an order by Supreme Court on a writ petition the Kanchi

seer in October 2005.