Thursday, January 13 2005 13:45 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kancheepuram: Police have 'orally' withdrawn the summons issued on the Kanchi Seer Jayendra Saraswathi to appear before them by 10:30 AM today (Jan 13, 2005), Mutt advocate A Shanmugam said.

He told reporters after meeting officers of the Special Investigation Team (SIT), probing the cases against the Seers of Kanchi Mutt, that he had informed the police that the summons were not legally enforceable under the CrPC.

He cited a Supreme Court judgement, which said that an accused could not be summoned for questioning like a witness.

Shanmugam said he had also pointed out to them that Kalavai, where the Seer is presently staying, was outside the jurisdiction of Kancheepuram police and that the summons issued by the SIT was not enforceable.

The police agreed to the points mentioned and told him that they would have to consult the prosecution lawyer, as he (Shanmugam) had raised some legal points, he said.

Shanmugam said that Jayendra Saraswathi, on receiving the summons, had stated that he would co-operate, but said that it would be convenient if the time were changed to 15:30 hrs (IST), as he had to perform poojas.

But the investigation officer Sakthivelu said that it could be postponed only upto 11:00 hrs (IST), after which the legal option was resorted to, Shanmugam said.

On the police freezing 183 bank accounts of the Mutt and several trusts, he said that the daily activities of the Mutt had come to a standstill and that their social welfare activities had been paralysed.

Though the police had orally informed him about the freezing of accounts, the Mutt had not received any written communication, he said.

Shanmugam said that the Mutt had constituted a legal panel, which would go into the 'leak' of video clippings of the Seer's custodial interrogation to some satellite television networks and also the freezing of the bank accounts.