Shankaracharya withdraws transfer petition from SC

New Delhi, Jan 22 (UNI) Shankaracharya of Kanchi peeth in Tamil Nadu Jayendra Saraswati today withdrew his transfer petition in the Supreme Court seeking transfer of Radhakrishnan assault case outside the state of Tamil Nadu.

A bench comprising Justices G P Mathur and R V Raveendran told the counsel for petitioner that with the change of government in the state, this petition has become infructuous.

At this, the counsel for the petitioner sought permission from the court to withdraw the same. The court granted permission and the petition was dismissed as withdrawn.

Shankaracharya had sought the transfer of the case outside Tamil Nadu on the grounds that the then Chief Minister of the state J Jayalalithaa was taking personal interest in the case and in view of the hostility of the state administration and the state police towards the petitioner, free and fare trial was not possible.

Another criminal case, the Shankaraman murder case, against the Shankaracharya has already been transferred to Union Territory of Puducherry on the same grounds.

The court was of the view that the attitude of the present Karunanidhi government in the state is not hostile towards the petitioner.

Shankaraman was allegedly murdered when he threatened to expose Shankaracharya.

Radhakrishnan was allegedly assulted because he was threatening to testify against Shankaracharya in the murder case.

UNI