Tuesday, December 21 2004 14:24 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Chennai: Kanchi Seer Jayendra Saraswathi's petition, seeking bail in the Radhakrishnan assault case, in which he is a co-accused, was adjourned to December 23 by the Madras High Court today (Dec 21, 2004), with a direction to the prosecution to file its counter affidavit by then.

When the application came up for hearing today, Justice R Balasubramanian posted the matter to Thursday after senior Supreme court advocate K T S Tulsi, appearing on behalf of the prosecution, sought time till December 27 to file the counter affidavit.

The Seer's counsel, senior advocate I Subramaniam, objected to the adjournment sought by Tulsi, contending that it would not be fit to keep him incarcerated till then, as it was a case under IPC Section 307.

On December 10, the principal Sessions Court had dismissed the Seer's bail application, holding that it had reason to believe there was a prima facie case against him.

The Shankaracharya, first arrested in the Sankararaman murder case on November 11, has been charged with attempt to murder and formally arrested on November 23 in the case relating to the assault of former Mutt associate Radhakrishnan in 2002.

The Seer, who had preferred a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court against the Sessions Court order, was told by the Apex Court on December 17 to file an appropriate petition before the Madras High Court and seek relief.

Following this, the Shankaracharya filed the present bail application under Section 439 of CrPC.

Contending that there was no further justification for keeping him under custody, the petitioner said that the prosecution was also "disabled" from seeking his remand to police custody.

Claiming that there was no possibility of him resorting to any act that would impede free investigation in the case, the Seer said that besides being aged, he was a chronic diabetic needing constant medical attention.

"It is also understood that material witnesses in the case have been examined and the identification parade is also over," he said.

Submitting that he would never misuse or abuse his liberty in the event of his release on bail, the Seer said that he would also not make himself scarce or abscond if granted bail. The allegation that he was likely to tamper with the investigation or abscond "is fanciful and frivolous and not based on facts and reality".