Sankarraman murder: Key accused surrenders

NDTV.com
Monday, December 20, 2004 (Chennai):

Appu, the key accused in the Sankararaman murder case, was today produced in the Kanchipuram court and has been remanded to police custody for three days.

It is being alleged that Appu was paid Rs 10 lakh by the Kanchi mutt for the temple accountant's murder.

Appu, who the police claim organised the killing allegedly at the behest of the Kanchi Shankaracharya, surrendered at the Balakrishnapuram police station near Chitoor on Sunday.

Police records

According to sources, the police arranged the surrender through a relative of Appu after promising him that there would be no encounter.

"I have no connection with the murder. The police and the government also know this. I am surrendering as I am being troubled. They say that I did it for money but that is not true," says Appu.

The police say Appu's hitmen Kathiravan and Chinna, who are now in jail for allegedly executing the crime, had given statements implicating their boss as well as the seer in the murder case.

The special investigation team is also in possession of bank transactions, mobile phone records between the seer and Appu and threatening letters written by the murdered temple accountant to Sri Jayendra Saraswati.

Hardened criminal

In police files, Appu alias Krishnaswamy figures as an A plus category criminal with cases ranging from extortion to murder pending in seven police stations in Chennai.

Even three detentions under the Goondas Act did not prevent him from running a network of hitmen.

Appu is also known to be well connected politically and was said to operate in star hotels where he had a permanent room.

But he was more of a behind-the-scenes operator and shot into the limelight only with the Sankarraman murder.

With Appu now in the police net, the Kanchipuram police will be desperate to track down the other accused in the murder - building contractor Ravi Subramaniam - before the Supreme Court hears the arrested seer's bail plea on January 6.