Thursday, March 31 2005 13:45 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kancheepuram: The copies of chargesheet in the Sankararaman murder case were today (Mar 31, 2005) handed over to all the accused, including Kanchi Seers Jayendra Saraswathi and Vijayendra Saraswathi, by a court in Kancheepuram.

Judicial First Class Magistrate G Uthamaraj also furnished a copy of the document to the accused-turned approver Ravi Subramaniam. The Seers were the first two receive the copies.

Though the chargesheet, running to 1,873 pages, was filed by the Superintendent of Police K Premkumar on January 21, 2005, the copies could not be served on four earlier occasions when the accused appeared before the court as the work was delayed since it was voluminous.

The Magistrate had on March 24 directed all the 24 accused to appear before the court today.

The court proceedings were delayed today as Appu, accused of organising the murder, arrived late from the Cuddalore Prison, where he is lodged.

Jayendra Saraswathi came from Kalavai, where he has been staying since his release on bail on January 11, 2005 around 10:30 hrs (IST) while Junior Vijayendra Saraswathi a short while earlier.

Eighteen of the accused, lodged in the Chennai Central Prison, were brought by the police in the morning.

Both the Seers are facing conspiracy charges in the murder Sankararaman, an official of the Varadaraja Perumal Temple in Kancheepuram on September 3, 2004.

Jayendra Saraswathi was arrested in the case at Mehaboob Nagar in Andhra Pradesh on November 11 while his Junior was arrested at the Kanchi Mutt on January 10, the day when the Supreme Court granted bail to the former.

Raghu, the brother of the Junior Seer, is also among the accused.