|
|
Sankararaman murder case: Charges framed against accused
Wednesday March 29 2006 00:00 IST
PONDICHERRY: Charges were framed against Kanchi Seers Jayendra Saraswathi and Vijayendra Saraswathi and all the other 22 accused in the sensational Sankararaman murder case at the Principal District Sessions Court here on Tuesday.Pondicherry Principal Sessions Judge M. Chinna Pandi framed a total of 14 charges under various sections of the IPC, including, 302 (Murder), 120(b) (Criminal Conspiracy), 447 and 448 (Criminal Trespass) and 201 (Causing disappearance of evidence or giving false evidence to screen an offender).
Both the prime accused, Jayendra Saraswathi and Vijayendra Saraswathi, as well all the other 22 accused, denied the charges and pleaded not being guilty.
Jayendrar told the court that the police along with the prosecution, had falsely implicated him in the case with which he had no connection.
Vijayendrar said that the case was false and he was not guilty. Ambicapathy, another accused in the case, sought legal assistance and requested the judge to expedite the case.
Judge Chinna Pandi, after framing the charges, posted the case to April 17 for further hearing pending the orders of the Supreme Court on the Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by the Defence challenging the appearance of Tamil Nadu Special Public Prosecutor in the case.
Earlier, when the case came up for hearing, defence counsel K S Dinakaran filed a petition before the court praying that the case should not be heard till the disposal of the SLP filed in the Supreme Court challenging the appearance of special public prosecutors from Tamil Nadu.
He sought an adjournment for at least two weeks till the Tamil Nadu Government filed its reply and orders were passed by the Supreme Court.
Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) T Balasundaram argued that the framing of charges and the objections relating to the appearance of the SPP were two different matters and hence should not be linked.
Moreover, he said that the SC Bench hearing the case did not grant a stay to the proceedings in the case.
The defence argued that when the appointment of SPP by the Pondicherry District and Sessions court was challenged in the Madras High Court and the case was pending before the court, the hearing in the case in Pondicherry Sessions court was adjourned till the disposal of the case by the High Court.
Dinakaran prayed that a similar decision should be taken in this regard also.
The Judge said that framing of charges was between the Court and the accused and the SLP was a separate issue. He dismissed the petition stating that the charges would be framed and the trial would be held after the disposal of the SLP for which the dates would be fixed later.
>>
© Copyright kanchi-sathya.org
No part of this web site may be reproduced without explicit permission from
the webmaster.
Some material put up on this web site are protected by individual
copyrights of the concerned organisations.
This site is optimised for 800 x 600 resolution or higher.