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NEWS ANALYSIS

Slandering a seer


Tamil Nadu has now booked a narcotics case against the Kanchi mutt manager and the junior seer's brother. If these are dismissed, as most likely they will be, the damage still cannot be undone

What is India News Service
30 April  2005

 The Jayalalithaa government is mounting case after case against people associated with the Kanchi mutt. The harassment has reached such a stage that the Kanchi seer was prompted to tell the Supreme Court that Investigating Officer Prem Kumar was making it difficult even for advocates to appear in his defence.
Kanchi junior seer Vijayendra Saraswathi's brother R Raghu, Kanchi Mutt manager R Sundaresa Iyer and five others have now been booked under the Narcotics Act. 

Raghu, Sundaresa Iyer and others, arrested in the Sankararaman murder case, had already been detained under the Goondas Act under which they cannot get bail for a year. The Act is normally invoked against habitual offenders.

The Madras High Court has fixed May 5 for pronouncing orders on petitions filed by Raghu and Sundaresa Iyer, and nine others challenging their detention under the Goondas Act.

They have now been booked under Section 20(1) (punishment for contravention in relation to cannabis plant and cannabis) of NDPS Act.

They were all arrested in connection with the September 3 murder of temple official Sankararaman.  

The petition filed on behalf of Raghu by his brother Prabhakaran alleged that the detention under the Act was 'malafide' and intended to stifle attempts to secure bail in the murder case. The petitioners contended that the grounds for detention were vague and unclear.

Kanchi Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi and his junior Vijayendra Saraswathi, are the main accused in the murder case. The senior seer was arrested first, and as the case progressed in no particular direction, the junior seer was also taken into custody.

In circumstances where cases keep coming but then end up going nowhere, it is understandable that the senior seer wants the investigation moved out of Tamil Nadu.

Nearly three months after getting bail in the Sankararaman murder case, the Kanchi Shankaracharya moved the Supreme Court seeking transfer of the trial outside Tamil Nadu, apprehending that he would not get a fair trial as the chief minister was showing “undue interest” in it.

Jayendra Saraswati, who was granted bail by the apex court on January 10 this year, said the atmosphere in the state was “not conducive for a fair trial” in the case as the prosecution appeared to be “under the influence” of the government headed by chief minister J Jayalalithaa.

After exactly two months in jail and unsuccessful attempts before the Madras High Court, the Kanchi seer was ordered to be released on bail on January 10 by the Supreme Court , which castigated Tamil Nadu police for having gathered “no evidence or material” against him.

Citing an instance of unnecessary harassment, the seer alleged that the police, which filed the chargesheet against him in the case on January 21, gave him a copy after nearly three months.

Moreover, the investigating officers in the case have been handpicked by the chief minister, who had given statements that would prejudice the prosecution from presenting the case fairly before the trial court.


Counsel for Shankaracharya, senior advocate Fali S Nariman submitted before a Bench comprising Chief Justice R C Lahoti and Justice G P Mathur that Kumar prompts the witnesses during examination to level charges against the seer's advocates.

The Bench asked Nariman to file this information in the form of an affidavit.

It posted for May 6 hearing on the application seeking transfer of the trial outside the State.

Alleging that "a fair and impartial trial cannot take place in the state of Tamil Nadu", the Seer narrated a series of events.

He mentioned the debacle in the Lok Sabha elections and the hospital project, that led to souring of relations between him and Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.

The seer, who was arrested on November 11 last year and granted bail by the Supreme Court on January 10, said harassment was meted out to journalists like S Gurumurthy and Cho Ramaswamy for criticizing the manner of investigation carried out by the police.

Expressing apprehension that the trial, if continued in the State, would be "stage managed", the Kanchi seer alleged that even the approver Ravi Subramaniam was always kept under the influence of the Special Investigation team. 

Assuming that these cases will be thrown out in course of time, the damage done to the seer, the mutt and allied institutions cannot be easily undone. There are many counts on which the Tamil Nadu investigating team can be faulted. Their lack of any real progress even five months after the arrest speaks for the investigators' failure, but that hasn't stopped them from going on and mounting new cases.  
 

Seer case: Officer accused of influencing trial, NDTV

Seer moves SC to transfer case outside TN ,Economic Times

Registration of case against Kanchi Seer among others sought, The Hindu