Kancheepuram: A Kancheepuram court today (Nov 22, 2004) rejected the prosecution application seeking extension of the police custody of Kanchi Seer Jayendra Saraswathi till 2 pm tomorrow (Nov 23, 2004).

Dismissing the application, the first class judicial magistrate-I Uthamaraj held that the respondent had already been sufficiently interrogated and there was no need to grant further custody.

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Earlier in the morning, as soon as the Seer was produced in the court, the public prosecutor submitted that the police needed the Seer in their custody till tomorrow afternoon (Nov 23, 2004) to enable them to verify some bank accounts, which could not be done yesterday (Nov 21, 2004) due to holiday.

The prosecutor also submitted that the Seer was cooperating.

Magistrate then asked the Seer what he had to say about this, to which the Seer replied, "They have asked all the questions they want. I don't think it is necessary".

The defence counsels Y T Thyagarajan and K S Dinakaran, opposed the Seer's police custody being extended by one more day. They also referred to the Madras High court order permitting Seer's lawyer to be present during the interrogation in police custody.

They argued that bank accounts could be verified even in the absence of the Seer. There was no need for his presence.

The defence also countered the argument of the prosecutor that court had to function in a complementary manner to help the investigation.

Earlier, the Magistrate asked the Seer whether he was tortured, to which Jayendra replied in the negative.

To another question the Seer replied that doctors had been examining him thrice a day.