Monday, April 17 2006 16:16 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Pondicherry: A court here is likely to fix on April 27 the date for commencement of trial in the Sankararaman murder case in which Kanchi Sankaracharyas Jayendra Saraswathi and Vijayendra Saraswathi are among the accused.

When the case came up for hearing today, Principal Sessions Judge M Chinnapandi posted it to April 27.

The judge had on March 28 framed charges in the case relating to the murder of Sankararaman, manager of a Kancheepuram temple in September, 2004. Besides the two seers, a total of 22 persons have been cited as accused in the case.

On the matter of the Special Leave Petition pending in the Supreme Court challenging the continuance of the Special Public Prosecutor T Balasundaram appointed by the Tamil Nadu government, defence counsel K S Dinakaran informed the court that it had been posted to April 24.

Earlier, the judge issued an arrest warrant against Arumugham, accused no. 16 in the case, after SPP submitted that he (the accused) was absconding.

Arumugham and R T Palani, another accused, were involved in an attempt to murder case in Chennai. Palani had since been arrested and remanded to custody but Arumugham's wherabouts were not known, the SPP said while seeking an arrest warrant.

The judge, who ordered issuance of the warrant, posted the case to April 27 for production of the accused.

Besides Palani and Arumugham, five other accused, including Jayendra Saraswathi and Vijayendra Saraswathi, were not present in the court today. Petitions seeking to dispense with the appearance of the other five were filed.

In another development in the case, a petition was filed on behalf of Anil Kumar, an accused, by his counsel stating that his client was mentally ill and that he had to be referred to an expert doctor. Otherwise his condition might deteriorate, the petition said.

Earlier, when Anil Kumar's name was called out in the court, he was seen unable to respond and a policeman, who accompanied him, said that he was ill.