Defence arguments in Sankararaman murder case completed

Principal District and Sessions Judge C S Murugan adjourned the case after counsel for M Sundaresa Iyer, Manager in the Kanchi Sankara Mutt, and Kadiravan completed the arguments today.

Arguments by defence counsel for all the 24 accused have thus been completed.

Special Public Prosecutor N Devadoss told newsmen that he would present the replies on behalf of prosecution when hearing is resumed on December 17.

The two seers were among the 13 accused present during the hearing today.

Sankararaman, former employee of Varadarajaperumal temple in Tamil Nadu was allegedly murdered on the premises of the temple on September 3, 2004.

 

The two seers have been charged under IPC sections of 120-B (conspiracy) and 302 (murder).

The trial was shifted from Tamil Nadu to Puducherry following a Supreme Court order after a petition was filed by Jayendra in 2005.

A total of 189 prosecution witnesses were examined and cross-examined in the case during the trial here between 2009 and 2011.

Eighty one of the total witnesses turned hostile during examination.