A Chennai sessions court on Friday acquitted Jayendra Saraswathi, the 80-year-old pontiff of the Kanchi Sankaracharya Mutt at Kancheepuram of all charges in the infamous auditor Radhakrishnan assault case. P Rajamanickam, sessions judge, Chennai, acquitted the pontiff and eight others of all charges of assault against Radhakrishnan which reportedly took place in September, 2002. Those acquitted include Sundaresa Iyer, manager, Kanchi Mutt and Raghu, brother of the junior pontiff Vijayendra Saraswathi.

The prosecution case was that Radhakrishnan, a former devotee of the centuries old Kanchi Mutt was assaulted with deadly weapons and he and his wife were seriously injured in the attack. The chargesheet was filed in 2006 for offences including criminal conspiracy and attempt to murder.

The attack, according to prosecution , was a result of the suspicion in the minds of the Mutt authorities who believed that Radhakrishnan was writing letters to authorities and patrons of the Mutt alleging irregularities in the Kanchi Mutt. It was alleged that Jayendra Saraswathi,expressed frustration over such letters and asked Iyer and Raghu to do something about it.

Recently, Jayendra Saraswathi and eight others were summoned to the court  and were grilled by the judge. The pontiff, who appeared in the court with a large posse of lawyers and associates was asked about 100 questions, all of which he answered. He also told the court that the charges were false and without any substance.

The Kanchi Acharya was also an accused along with his deputy Vijayendra Saraswathi in the 2004 murder of Sankararaman, manager of Varadaraja Perumal Temple in Kancheepuram . Both the seers along with others were acquitted by a court in Puthussery following a trial which lasted from 2009 to 2013. The arrest of the seer and his deputy in connection with the case in 2004 had shocked the devotees of the Mutt spread across the world.