Senior Shankaracharya released, Junior arrested.

[Guest guest]

Hi Keval:

 

Since you asked, this one is for you. I have combined two articles

into one.

 

 

Senior pontiff gets bail, cops arrest his junior

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/986405.cms

 

NEW DELHI: The junior pontiff of the Kanchi mutt, Vijendra

Saraswathi, was arrested by Tamil Nadu police within seven hours of

the Supreme Court releasing the senior pontiff, Jayendra Saraswathi,

on bail but forbidding him from visiting the mutt.

 

Vijendra Saraswathi's arrest seemed imminent after he was questioned

by the special investigation team (SIT) several times. But still,

his arrest on the same day as the senior seer's release on bail

added a dramatic twist to the Sankararaman murder case.

 

In fact, the timing of his arrest is being seen to indicate the

determination of Tamil Nadu government. The arrest is also likely to

reinforce the theory that Jayendra Swaraswathi was framed as part of

a conspiracy to take over the Kanchi mutt, and this could give the

Sangh Parivar cause to up its ante. Some even alleged that the

manner in which SIT was conducting the case made it look like

a "fishing expedition".

 

The junior pontiff was arrested even as the supporters of the Kanchi

Mutt and the Sangh Parivar were celebrating Jayendra Saraswathi's

bail. The court observed that F S Nariman, counsel for

Shankaracharya, had made "prima facie a strong case" for ending the

two-month-long detention.

 

While passing the order, the court asked Jayendra Saraswathi to

deposit his passport, and furnish two sureties the amount of which

is to be decided by the chief judicial magistrate of Chengleput.

Besides the Shankaracharya, the court ruled, will also have to abide

by his undertaking not to visit mutt until the chargesheet in the

murder case was framed.

 

The police action raised howls of protests from the supporters of

the mutt in Kanchi. Mutt lawyer Thyagrajan told reporters later that

police had given no reason for the arrest of Vijendra Saraswati. "We

do not know under what sections the junior seer had been taken into

custody," he said. Accusing the police of tresspass, the lawyer

further said that the junior seer was performing puja when the

police barged into the mutt.

 

Hindu groups condemn junior seer's arrest

 

Expressing shock at the arrest of Vijayendra Saraswathi, the junior

seer of the Kanchipuram mutt, Hindu organisations on Monday accused

the Tamil Nadu government of waging a "war" against the monastery.

 

"It is clear the state government is waging a war against the mutt

and is trying to end a more than 2,000 year-old tradition,"

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) spokesman Ram Madhav told

reporters here.

 

"What was the need to arrest the junior seer on the very day his

senior was granted bail by the Supreme Court," asked Vishwa Hindu

Parishad (VHP) leader Pravin Togadia.

 

"Is there no one to protect us (Hindus)," he wondered aloud,

reacting to the sudden arrest of Vijayendra Saraswathi on the charge

of ordering the murder of Kanchipuram temple official A

Sankararaman.

 

Madhav contended the arrest of the junior seer would scuttle the

Trikala Puja (prayers) that has been offered continuously at the

mutt for the past 2,500 years.

 

Referring to the Supreme Court's condition while granting bail to

senior pontiff Jayendra Saraswathi that he should not visit the mutt

until investigation was completed, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)

leader Sushma Swaraj said: "The senior seer cannot go to the mutt

and the junior has been arrested. Who will conduct the puja ?"

 

"It is a violation of human, cultural and religious rights," said

BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi.

 

The Tamil Nadu government was carrying out a vendetta against the

mutt, Swaraj claimed, accusing the central government of remaining a

silent spectator to the drama.