Thursday, July 28 2005 19:35 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Chennai: A Sessions Court today (July 28, 2005) issued fresh summons to former Union Minister and BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi to appear in court on September 30 for his remarks, which allegedly lowered the esteem of the Tamil Nadu government.

After Joshi failed to appear in court in response to earlier summons, the VIIth Additional Sessions Judge Jeyabalan ordered issue of fresh summons.

Joshi's advocate told the court that his client had not received the summons for appearance today.

The city public prosecutor (CPP) had filed a defamation suit on behalf of the state government against the BJP leader for attributing motives to the November 11 last arrest of Kanchi Seer Jayendra Saraswathi in connection with the Sankararaman murder case.

Talking to reporters outside the Vellore jail in mid-November after meeting the Seer, Joshi had allegedly flayed the police and government for the Sankaracharya's arrest and said there was an ulterior motive to the arrest, which was the result of a conspiracy.

In his petition filed on March 18, the CPP claimed that the remarks were intended to harm the reputation of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and the state police.