Wednesday, October 5 2005 20:14 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Tamil Nadu Government today (Oct 5, 2005) told the Supreme Court that Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa took a painful decision to prosecute Kanchi Shankaracharya in the Sankararaman murder case and brushed aside the Seer's allegation that the Magistrate came to the court on holiday for the filing of chargesheet in the case.

"The magistrate was on duty as Duty Magistrate on a holiday. He was not waiting for the chargesheet to be filed," senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan told a Bench comprising Chief Justice R C Lahoti and Justice G P Mathur during hearing of the plea of Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati seeking transfer of the case outside the State.

He refuted the allegation of the Seer that the Chief Minister was showing keen interest in the case saying that whatever was said by her in the Legislative Assembly or elsewhere were in discharge of her duty and responsibility.

The senior advocate submitted that it was indeed a painful decision on the part of Jayalalithaa, who is also the Home Minister to prosecute Sankaracharya.

Further, the cases against the Seer's lawyers were registered as they had gone to the jail and had intimidated and threatened Ravi Subramanian, the accused-turned-approver, to give a statement in favor of the Sankaracharya.

He said a defamation case against some journalists was filed as they have been targeting the Investigating Officer Prem Kumar who was performing his official duty.

The arguments on behalf of State would continue tomorrow (Oct 6, 2005).

Sankaracharya and other accused, including junior pontiff Vijayendra Saraswati, have sought transfer of the case outside the state alleging that the 'surcharged atmosphere' in Tamil Nadu was not conducive for a fair trial.