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Kanchi assault case: High Court grants bail to three accused

The Madras High Court granted bail to three of the six accused in the Radhakrishnan assault case, in which the Kanchi Seer Jayendra Saraswathi, a co-accused, has already obtained bail.

Granting bail to Kannan, Bhoominathan and Kumar, Justice M Thanikachalam, however, rejected the bail pleas of Anand and Meenakshisundaram on the ground that they were not entitled for the relief as they had been booked under the Goondas Act.

The bail application by Laskhmanan, who was allegedly directly involved in the attack, was also dismissed by the judge, who held that 'it cannot be said that there was no material against him'.

Anand and Lakshmanan have been identified as the two who carried out the attack against Radhakrishnan, a former mutt associate, his wife and an attendant, in the city on Sept. 20, 2002.

Kanchi Mutt Junior Acharya Vijayendra Saraswati, who moved Madras High Court seeking anticipatory bail in the Radhakrishnan assault case, would not be arrested in the case till his petition was disposed of, the prosecution told the court today.
While seeking adjournment of the case for a week, Public Prosecutor K Duraisamy told the court that the prosecution would follow the High Court order, which had stated that those who moved the High Court seeking anticipatory bail should not be arrested till the disposal of their petitions.

'Kanchi Mutt is not a place of worship': \91\91Kanchi Mutt is not a place for either private or public worship, it is a place where the Peetadhipathis - namely accused 1 (Jayendrar) and accused 2 (Vijayendrar) and the blood-brother of the second accused by name Raghu - are permanently residing". The writ petition filed by the State Chief Secretary on Thursday in the Madras High Court went on to assert, \91\91No deity is ever installed in the Mutt so as to qualify it as a place of worship. Entry to the Mutt is not available to the general public and is, at the best, confined to a select group of people. Hence to call it a place of worship is a misnomer.\92\92

Junior seer denied bail: he judge said since the witnesses were either mutt devotees or employees, it was possible that the accused could influence them during the trial.

Aftershocks continue in islands: Three earthquakes of moderate intensity rocked the Andaman and Nicobar Islands since Wednesday night.

SP leader held for MLA\92s murder: The Lucknow police today arrested Samajwadi Party leader Mohammad Ashraf, brother of SP MP Atiq Ahmed, in connection with the murder of BSP MLA Raju Pal in Allahabad on Tuesday.

Nanavati for reopening riot case against Sajjan: A commission of Inquiry, which probed the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in the Capital, is understood to have recommended reinvestigation of cases against some Congress leaders, including Mr Sajjan Kumar, while not blaming the entire party or the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi for the incidents. 

India asks UN to play its role in global economic agenda: Expressing serious concern over diminishing development activities and increasing regulatory and punitive aspects in the United Nations, India has asked the world body to play a central role in setting the global economic agenda, a role which it played till mid 1970.

Fear stalks Maharashtra village after temple stampede: More than two days after a stampede killed 258 persons at the Kalubai temple at Wai in Maharashtra, residents of the tiny Mandhardevi village are still unable to figure out why they were attacked and their businesses destroyed in the aftermath.