7.104.20 They advance, accompanied by dogs; desirous to destroy him.

November 18, 2004

7.104.20 They advance, accompanied by dogs; desirous to destroy

him, they assail the indomitable Indra; S'akra whets his thunderbolt for

the miscreants; quickly let him hurl the bolt upon the fiends.

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Magistrate reserves orders, verdict on seer's police custody in the evening

Thursday November 18 2004 17:21 IST

UNI

KANCHEEPURAM: Judicial Magistrate G Utthamaraju on Thursday reserved orders on the petition filed by the prosecution seeking police custody of Kanchi seer Jayendra Saraswati, who has been arrested in connection with a murder case.

After hearing the arguments of both sides, the Magistrate said the orders would be pronounced in the evening.

Earlier, the incarcerated seer, was brought from Vellore central prison and produced before the court, amidst tight security.

When the prosecution petition came up for hearing, counsels for the seer, N S Dinakaran and others, vehemently opposed granting of police custody on the ground that the acharya was already under judicial custody for 15 days.

After the Magistrate offered the seer a seat, he enquired about his health condition, to which the acharya answered in the affirmative. The doctor's report said the acharya's health condition was normal.

All through the nearly three-hour long arguments, the seer was seen sporting a sullen face with the 'staff' in his hand.

To a question on the police seeking five days custody of him, the acharya did not agree to it.

The defence also contended that there was nothing that the investigating officials could unravel from the interrogation of the seer as a majority of things, including the bank accounts and the different trusts functioning under the mutt, were known to everyone.

Objecting to this, public prosecutor S Jayakumar submitted that it was a normal practice to seek police custody of the accused for further investigation.

The prosecution, which had sought five days police custody, submitted that only minimum and preliminary evidence had been tabled before the court in connection with the September three murder of the ex-mutt staff and Lord Varadharaja Perumal temple manager, in which the seer was cited as the prime accused.

He said questioning of the seer was very much necessary to bring the truth to light.

Jayakumar also submitted that the seer could be interrogated in the Vellore central prison itself in the presence of jail authorities.

After hearing the views of the prosecution and the defence, the Magistrate adjourned the case.

Meanwhile, unprecedented security arrangements were made in and around the court complex, which was made out of bounds for the public. The entry was restricted only to lawyers, court officials, employees and mediapersons.

More than 600 police personnel, along with sniffer dogs, had been deployed inside the court complex and all those entering it were subjected to thorough frisking and had to pass through a metal detector, police sources said.

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