Hearing in Sankararaman murder case adjourned to Aug 1

Only seven of the 24 accused were present when the hearing came up before the Principal District and Sessions Judge C S Murugan. The absentees included the two seers.

Special public prosecutor N Devadoss told PTI later that Anand Sharma, son of slain Sankararaman, filed a petition stating that his mother's plea seeking transfer of trial from Puducherry to Madras High court was being taken up today by the High Court.

Sankararaman, manager of the Varadaraja Perumal temple here, was murdered on the temple premises on Sept 3, 2004.

The two Kanchi seers had been charged under IPC sections 120-B (Criminal Conspiracy) and 302 (murder).

A total of 189 witnesses including Padma, wife of Sankararaman, her son and daughter were examined during the trial between 2010 and 2011. Eighty-three of the witnesses turned hostile during the trial, shifted here by the Supreme Court on a petition by Jayendra Saraswathi.