New Delhi: The Kanchi Shankaracharya's statement to police during interrogation in the Sankararaman murder case "tantamounts to admission" but was "not admissible in court as evidence", Prosecution lawyer K T S Tulsi said yesterday (Nov 29, 2004).

"I am myself not aware of the details of the confession. But during police interrogation, there was a statement by the Shankaracharya that tantamounts to an admission but is not admissible as evidence in court," Tulsi said in CNBC's 'Tonight at 10' show hosted by Karan Thapar.

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He was responding to a question on whether Jayendra Saraswathi had confessed to his involvement in the murder.

Tulsi said by asking for bail even as the prosecution was moving the court for police custody and the investigations were underway, the defence had forced them to "prematurely" disclose certain details in court but maintained that the evidence had been kept out of public domain and they were trying to ensure that it was protected from "excessive media glare".

BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) general secretary and party spokesman Arun Jaitley said, "Nothing has yet been produced linking him (Shankaracharya) to the evidence" and defended the party's demand for shifting the trial outside Tamil Nadu, saying the environment had been vitiated by the media trial and politicisation of the case by Dravidian parties.