Wednesday, December 22 2004 12:36 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kancheepuram: Mystery shrouds the reported arrest of contractor Ravi Subramaniam, one of the main accused in the Sankararaman murder, with no official word yet from the special police investigating the case.

According to reports, Ravi Subramaniam, the second accused, is said to have surrendered before an inspector at Koyambedu in Chennai, but Chennai police today (Dec 22, 2004) denied this.

The special police in Kancheepuram refused to confirm the arrest or surrender.

Speculations about the nabbing of Ravi Subramaniam have been doing rounds since the arrest of Appu, another prime accused, last week and these were strengthened when a lawyer, said to be representing him (Ravi Subramaniam), visited the special police team office on Sunday (Dec 19, 2004).

Besides, a mention made by the prosecution in the First Class Judicial Magistrate G Uthamaraj on Monday (Dec 20, 2004) that SP K Prem Kumar, heading the investigations, had gone to take charge of Ravi Subramaniam further fuelled the rumours.

Ravi Subramaniam along with first accused Kanchi Seer Jayendra Saraswathi and Appu have been charged with hatching a conspiracy to kill Sankararaman, a temple official.