Wednesday, January 25 2006 14:47 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Pondicherry: A sessions court here today (Jan 25,2006) dismissed petitions filed by counsel for senior Kanchi Seer Jayendra Saraswathi and his junior Vijayendra Saraswathi, the main accused in the Sankararaman murder case, challenging the appearance of the Special Public Prosecutor in the case.

The Principal district and sessions judge, M Chinnapandi, in his order, said that according to various court rulings, the Tamil Nadu government had powers to appoint the SPP to conduct the case and also had jurisdiction over the case even after it was transferred here from a Chengalpattu court.

He also said that he found acceptable, the prosecution's contention that the role of Assistant Public Prosecutors was to assist the SPP and not to conduct the case.