Monday, January 10 2005 17:52 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kancheepuram: A court in Kancheepuram today (Jan 10, 2005) posted for tomorrow hearing of the bail plea of Kanchi Mutt accountant, Viswanatha Iyer, who was arrested on January 4 on charges of tampering with the accounts of the Mutt.

Judicial Magistrate-I, Uthamaraj, posted it for hearing tomorrow when Kanchi Mutt lawyer Y Thyagarajan moved the petition for bail.

Viswanatha Iyer was arrested by the special team, which is probing the Sankararaman murder case, on January 4, under section 420 (cheating) of IPC and various other sections.

Moving the bail petition, Thyagarajan said police have stated that the documents in Iyer's possession were having many blottings of entries, corrections and pages of the ledger had come loose and that some pages were missing. Police had even said that some pages had been inserted.

Thyagarajan said Viswanatha Iyer was only an honorary worker in the Mutt assisting in the accountancy. The Mutt's accounts are audited by the Hindu religious and Charitable Endowments department and by internal auditors. Even assuming something was wrong, it was the Mutt which should file a complaint against Viswanatha Iyer and not police, he said.

Further, police did not seize the document but it had been produced voluntarily by Iyer on being summoned by police, he said.

He further pointed out that photocopies of the same documents had already been produced before the Supreme Court, being the base for the prosecution's case against the Seer.

As the police had already in their custody, the files and ledgers, there was no need for keeping Viswanatha Iyer in custody. Moreover the complaints were all bailable offences, Thyagarajan said.

The Magistrate then posted the petition for tomorrow.