Seer makes last desperate plea for bail

Press Trust Of India
Posted online: Friday, January 07, 2005 at 1135 hours IST
Updated: Friday, January 07, 2005 at 1458 hours IST

New Delhi, January 7: Kanchi Shankaracharya, in jail for nearly two months in connection with Sankararaman murder case, on Friday made a last desperate plea for bail before the Supreme Court undertaking not (not) to visit the Kancheepuram mutt till the investigation was completed by the Tamil Nadu police.

Fali S Nariman, appearing for the seer, pleaded before a bench comprising Chief Justice R.C. Lahoti, Justice G.P. Mathur and Justice P.P. Naolekar that the pontiff, if granted bail, would not visit the mutt till the police completed its investigations and filed the chargesheet.

This would take care of the apprehension of the police that most of the witnesses in the case being employees of the mutt would not be in a position to depose against the seer if he was released on bail, the counsel said.

Before giving this undertaking, Nariman with documentary proof made light of the changing theories of the prosecution regarding the seer's role in paying the hired goons for the elimination of Sankararaman.

The prosecution, through senior advocate K T S Tulsi while opposing the bail, had first stated that Rs 50 lakhs was withdrawn from three banks to pay up the hired assassins but later changed the story to say the seer had used for payment purposes Rs 50 lakh which was received from the sale of a land and had kept the money all along in his room.

Nariman, showing bank statements, said the money received from the sale of land was deposited as far back as may 7 last year in two accounts of the seer in a nationalised bank much before the murder of Sankararaman in September.

Coming to the question of bail, Nariman said though there were several "pujas" which required his presence in the mutt, the seer would not go to the mutt and the junior pontiff would take care of the rituals as "fortunately he had not been arrested till now".

He said the main evidence of the prosecution to link the seer to the murder was the payment of the money by him to the hired assailants and with the bank statement about the deposit of Rs 50 lakhs in two accounts as early as May 7 last year demolished that piece of evidence.

This left the other apprehension of the prosecution that the seer would flee the country in the event of grant of bail to him, he said and added, "the pontiff is a well known figure world wide and it would be extremely difficult for him to flee the country."

Crystallising the undertaking before the court, Nariman said "until chargesheet is filed, Shankaracharya would not go anywhere near the mutt".

Tulsi, opposing the bail plea, said the prosecution has evidence in the form of a "dying declaration" of Sankararaman, who had a continuing tirade against the mutt and the seer's activities, implicating the pontiff in his murder as he had told a person few months prior to his death that "if anything happened to him, the seer should be held responsible".

When the court asked did the deceased give it in writing to the police, the prosecution replied in the negative and said this was stated by the same person, who was now a witness in the murder case, before whom Sankararaman had said this.