Kanchi Mutt seers Jayendra Saraswathi (left) and Vijayendra, the prime accused in the Sankararaman murder case
A Puducherry court will today deliver its verdict in the high-profile 2004 Sankararaman murder case, in which two Kanchi Mutt seers Jayendra Saraswathi and Vijayendra are the prime accused.
Puducherry Principal District and Sessions Judge CS Murugan will pronounce the judgement after a trial which ran for over nine years.
The trial was shifted from a Chengalpet court in Tamil Nadu to Puducherry by the Supreme Court in 2005 based on a plea by Jayendra, who alleged that the atmosphere in Tamil Nadu was not conducive for a free and fair trial.
A Sankararaman, manager of the Varadarajaperumal temple at Kancheepuram in Tamil Nadu, was allegedly murdered on September 3, 2004, in the temple premises. A total of 24 persons (now 23) were charged as accused under various IPC sections including 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 120-B R/W 302, while Jayendra Saraswathi and Vijayendra were cited as A-1 and A-2 respectively.
Another manager of Kanchi Mutt, Sundaresan, and Jayendra Saraswathi's brother Raghu were charged as co-conspirators. The first six among the accused were charged under IPC Sections 302 (murder), 120-B and 109 (abetment).
Of the 24 accused, Kathiravan was murdered in March this year at KK Nagar in Chennai. Following the direction of the Puducherry Principal District and Sessions Judge,the Special Public Prosecutor had filed a petition stating there was no objection from prosecution and defence counsel for delivering the judgement.
Sankararaman's son Anand Sharma had also filed a memo that he had no objection for the delivery of the verdict and also gave up his earlier demand in August this year for audio and video recordings of proceedings of the case.
During the trial, 189 witnesses were examined between 2009 and 2012, of which 83 turned hostile.