All 23 accused, including Jayendra Saraswathi and Vijayendra Saraswathi, the senior and junior Sankaracharyas of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, were acquitted in the Sankararaman murder case by SM Murugan, Principal District Sessions Judge, Puducherry, on Wednesday.
In his verdict, the judge said that the prosecution has failed in proving the charges against the accused. A total of 24 persons were listed as accused by the prosecution. Kathiravan, one of the accused, was found murdered earlier this year.Jayendra Saraswathi and his junior Vijayendra Saraswathi were arraigned as accused 1 and 2 respectively in this sensational murder case, which hogged international media limelight.
Judge Murugan said that the witnesses, including the widow and daughter of Sankararaman, failed to support the prosecution case that the Sankaracharyas were part of the conspiracy to eliminate the temple official. The witnesses also failed to identify the accused in the court. The Prosecution could not produce even single incriminating evidence against the accused, the judge observed.
“Out of the 181 prosecution witnesses, 84 turned hostile and this shows that they were under duress to give evidence,” said the judge.The Pontiffs were on maun vrat (vow to keep silent) and hence declined to comment on the verdict. However the Mutt officials and advocates said they were happy with the judgement. The Kanchi Mutt is believed to have been established by Adi Sankara in the fifth century BC. Jayendra Saraswathi, known for his Spartan lifestyle and pro-reforms attitudes, is the 70th pontiff of the Mutt.
Sankararaman, the then manager of Sri Varadarajaperumal Temple in Kancheepuram in Tamil Nadu, was found murdered on September 3, 2004. On September 27, five persons claiming themselves to be the murderers of Sankararaman surrendered before the Chennai Metropolitan Magistrate. Investigation by a specially constituted team of Tamil Nadu Police “unearthed” some letters and leaflets from the house of Sankararaman exposing the misdeeds of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham.
The police also took into account a petition filed by Sankararaman in the Madras High Court in 2001 seeking a directive to restrain Jayendra Saraswathi from undertaking a trip to China on the ground that the Hindu scriptures forbade the Sankaracharyas from crossing the seas. This led the police to conclude that the pontiffs were behind the conspiracy to murder Sankararaman.
The Tamil Nadu police arrested the Seer from Mahbubnagar in Andhra Pradesh on the midnight of November 11, 2004 where he had been for a pooja. The police had claimed at that time that Jayendra Saraswathi and Vijayendra Saraswathi were planning to escape to Nepal from Andhra Pradesh. Millions of devotees of the Peetham across the globe were shocked at the development. Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had told the Tamil Nadu Assembly that there were strong evidence to prove that the pontiff was involved in the murder.
Interestingly, Prem Kumar, the then Kancheepuram Superintendent of Police who investigated the case and prepared the chargesheet, was dismissed from service by the Tamil Nadu Government following his conviction by a Madurai court in an assault case which took place in 1982.
The Mutt followers had blamed Prem Kumar for the selective leaking of videos featuring the confessions made by Jayendra Sarawathi about his role in the murder of Sankararaman. The Seer was seen with swollen face and bruises all over the body. Things got more vicious when K Duraiswamy, the special public prosecutor, told the Madras High Court, which was hearing the bail application moved on behalf of the Pontiff, that he was the most undeserving criminal.
The Supreme Court in its order granting bail to the Pontiff had come down heavily on the high handedness and interference by Prem Kumar, the then SP. The case took a curious turn on January 10, 2005 when the Tamil Nadu Police gate crashed into the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham and arrested Vijayendra Saraswathi for murdering Sankararaman within hours after the Supreme Court granting bail to the senior seer.