Apex court reserves order on Kanchi acharya's bail plea

By J.Venkatesan

New Delhi.Jan. 7: The Supreme Court today reserved orders on the petition of Kanchi Sankaracharya Sri Jayendra Saraswathi seeking bail in the Sankararaman murder case in which he was arrested by the Tamil Nadu Police on November 11, 2004.

A three-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice R.C.Lahoti reserved the verdict at the conclusion of arguments by senior counsel for the Acharya, F.S.Nariman and K.T.S.Tulsi, Senior counsel for the Tamil Nadu Government.

Mr.Nariman replying to Mr.Tulsi submitted the case now rested on the amount of Rs.50 lakhs said to have been kept by the Acharya in his room from April 30,2004 till Sept.1, 2004, the date on which the conspiracy was alleged to have been hatched by the Acharya and the co-accused to killSankararaman, manager of the Varadaraja Perumal temple in Kanchipuram.

Mr.Nariman brought to the notice of the court that the amount said to have been utilised to the assailants was in fact deposited in the Indian Bank on May 7, 2004 itself. This being the case from where the money to pay the assailants would have come, he asked.

Mr.Nariman said that the Acharya might be released on bail by imposing a condition that he would not visit the mutt till the chargesheet was filed in the case.