Fabrication by police in SJS case

[barney]

Kancheepuram, November 27: Police investigating the Sankararaman murder case, involving Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati, have been further pushed to the wall with two more of the accused alleging foul play.

 

 

 

Their petition to the Judicial Magistrate indicates that the police were trying to rig the identification parade. The accused — Mattu Bhasker and Silvester alias Stalin — had surrendered at the Tiruvattiyur court on November 5. Later, the Magistrate’s court in Kanchipuram ordered their judicial custody for 15 days, on November 19. But, the petition says, instead of taking them directly to the Central jail in Chennai, the police took the accused to the SP’s office in Kanchipuram. The two were interrogated there, without the court’s knowledge.

 

The petition also says the police brought Sankararaman’s widow, Padma, and her two children to the SP’s office, and introduced them to the accused. This was done even though Padma and her children may have been for an identification parade. Speaking to The Indian Express, defence lawyer Darwin Wisdom said he had information that Sankararaman’s family subsequently took part in an identification parade at Chennai jail. The police, however, refused to comment on this.

 

In a surprise move, the state government replaced S. Davidson, the SP of Kanchipuram, who was overseeing investigations into the case. Davidson’s transfer orders were issued from Chennai barely hours after the PM’s letter, advising care and caution in the case, had reached Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa’s office. The Cuddalore SP, Prem Kumar, would assume charge in place of Davidson.