Kanchi seer plea for transfer 'not sustainable'

Chennai, Mar 15 (UNI) Turning down Kanchi Acharya Jayendra Saraswati's plea, Madras High Court today refused to transfer the auditor Radhakrishnan assault case, in which he is an accused, from Chennai Sessions Court to a Sessions Court in Pondicherry.

Mr Justice M Jeyapaul, who dismissed the petition filed by the seer, held that the prayer for transfer was not sustainable.

The judge said there was no contention in the transfer petition that the petitioner might not get justice from the Sessions Court here, which was now dealing with the case.

Pondicherry Principal Sessions court, which was dealing with the Sankararaman murder case, in which the Acharya was cited as prime accused, had to examine as many as 370 witnesses.

If the Radhakrishnan assault case was also tagged with that case, another 81 witnesses would have to be examined, the judge pointed out. It would be a tiresome exercise and the court would definitely be exhausted, he added.

The trial of the two cases would also take a long time. Witnesses in the present case were reportedly residing in and around Kancheepuram. As both cases were in no way connected with each other, they could not be clubbed together for common disposal.

Considering the distinct charges levelled against the petitioner and others in the two cases, the separate investigation process of the Special Investigation Team and material collected, and the ordeal that might be faced by witnesses to travel from Kancheepuram to Pondicherry to attend the proceedings, this court found that the prayer for transfer was not sustainable. Accordingly, the petition was dismissed.

UNI XR/HV VD BS1726