SC reserves order on Shankaracharya's bail plea

Created on : 01/07/2005 12:20:41 PM (TOP 3)

New Delhi, Jan 7 (UNI) The Supreme Court today reserved its verdict on a Special Leave Petition (SLP) by Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati, challenging a Madras High Court judgement refusing bail in the Sankararaman murder case.

A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice R C Lahoti, Mr Justice G P Mathur and Mr Justice P P Naolekar reserved its judgement after the conclusion of six-hour-long arguments which began yesterday.

Earlier, the Tamil Nadu government in its bid to link the seer with the murder of the former Mutt official cited statements recorded before a Magistrate by two witnesses who stated that Shankararaman had told them that if anything happened to him, the seer should be held responsible.

Senior Counsel K T S Tulsi, appearing for the Tamil Nadu government, however, refused to divulge their names despite repeated queries by the court and the seer's counsel saying they were Mutt employees and could be influenced.

Mr Tulsi said that as per the rulings of the apex court such statements made after the crime had to be taken as Dying Declaration and considered valid evidence under section 32 of the Indian Evidence Act.

Senior Counsel F S Nariman, appearing for the Pontiff, contended that the prime question before the court was whether the petitioner should be granted bail or not. Pointing to the law laid down in Gurbachan Singh case, he said the High Court had powers under section 439 CrPC to grant bail provided there was no likelihood of fleeing from justice and tampering with the evidence.

He said there was no likelihood of the Pontiff fleeing from justice and as far as charge of tampering with evidence was considered, he could be asked to stay away from the Mutt as all the witnesses cited by the prosecution were Mutt employees.

Mr Nariman submitted that in view of the above ruling, legally the seer was not disentitled to bail.