Five more witnesses turn hostile in Sankararaman murder case

Puducherry, Jan 25 (PTI) Five more prosecution witnessesturned hostile today during the trial in the Sankararamanmurder case in which Kanchi Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathiand junior acharya Vijayendra Saraswathi are the main accused.

Of the 24 accused, only six were present during thehearing before the Principal and District Sessions Judge K.

Ramalingam and the absentees included the two seers.

Out of the seven witnesses examined, Special PublicProsecutor N. Devadoss declared five of them as hostile whenhe found they contradicted the statements they had madeearlier before police in Kancheepuram.

The Judge adjourned the hearing to February 7 and stated itwould be held for three days in a row from that date.

Around 30 witnesses would be examined in the next hearing.

Of the 137 witnesses examined since the commencement of thetrial here some two years ago, 72 have turned hostile.

The trial was shifted to Puducherry from Chengalpattudistrict court following a Supreme Court''s order in October2005 on a petition filed by Jayendra Saraswathi.

Sankararaman, Manager of the Varadararjaperumal temple inKancheepuram, was allegedly murdered on the premises of thetemple on September 3, 2004.