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Shankaracharya’s followers go on the rampage Chennai, November 13 Soon after Mr Justice R. Balasubramaniam adjourned the hearing on the bail application of the seer till Wednesday, enraged supporters of the Shankaracharya carrying flag poles clashed with Dravida Kazhagam (DMK) workers and some lawyers within the court premises. For sometime, it was free for all as angry devotees beat up lawyers and destroyed some two-wheelers parked there. However, the police intervened and the supporters dispersed. The High Court judge issued the order after hearing senior counsel from Delhi Ram Jethmalani, appearing for the Shankaracharya, and the public prosecutor, Mr K. Duraiswamy. Mr Jethmalani sought time to file a detailed affidavit after meeting the seer and alleged that his client was denied his fundamental right under Articles 21 and 22 of the Constitution as he was not allowed to speak to his lawyers. Mr Justice Balasubramaniam pointed out that the allegation was not mentioned in the bail application and gave counsel for the Shankaracharya time to meet the seer. Mr Jethmalani argued that the seer was ready to cooperate with the investigation and since he cooked his own food, sending him to jail amounted to sentencing him to death. Opposing the bail application, the public prosecutor stated that the Shankaracharya had got wind of his impending arrest and was planning to flee to the Hindu kingdom of Nepal from Mehboobnagar in Andhra Pradesh. The Shankaracharya is the spiritual “guru” of the monarchy in Nepal and frequently visits the Pashupatinath Temple near the Nepali capital of Kathmandu. The head of the famous Kanchi Mutt, one of the oldest Hindu institutions, believed to have been started by Adi Sankara, was arrested on Thursday night, when Divali was being celebrated in South India while he was performing “Trikal puja”, by a high-level Tamil Nadu police team accompanied by commandos. He was taken to Hyderabad that night itself and flown in a Cessna aircraft to the Chennai airport from where he was taken in a police vehicle to Kanchipuram next morning and produced before the District Magistrate who remanded him to 15 days judicial custody. A grim Shankaracharya, a diabetic, was then lodged in the Vellore Central Prison. The 70-year-old Shankaracharya has been charged with the murder of Sankararaman, who had managed the accounts of the Mutt during the period of Paramacharya Sri Chandrasekerendra Saraswati. Sankararaman, who enjoyed the trust of the Paramacharya, fell out with the Shankaracharya after the former died a few years ago and left the mutt to join Vardarajan Perumal temple in Kanchipuram. He had been writing to the Shankaracharya and in his last letter dated August 30 threatened to expose the priest’s “financial misdeeds”, a copy of which he mailed to Tamil magazine Nakkeraan, which published it. On September 3, a group of people hacked to death Sankararaman inside his office at Varadarajan Perumal Temple. Over the past few years, the Shankaracharya was also indulging in political activities like trying to negotiate between Hindu and Muslim groups over the proposed Ram temple at Ayodhya. He had built a strong political clout. Among the five Shankaracharyas in the country — Badrinath, Hardwar, Dwarka, Puri, Udipi and Kanchipuram — Jayendra Saraswati had hogged the limelight because of his political liasions and was considered to be the “voice of the Hindus”. The very night the then Kanchipuram Superintendent of Police, Mr Prem Kumar, tried to question the seer and the next morning he was transferred to Cuddalore district. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Ms J. Jayalalithaa is said to be close to the Shankaracharya and the Opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) had threatened to begin an agitation unless the “real culprit” who enjoyed political patronage was arrested. The Tamil Nadu Police got the green signal from the state government when they placed “clinching evidence” indicating the involvement of the Shankaracharya in the murder. With him, the number of persons arrested by the police has gone up to 15 and Mr Prem Kumar has been re-appointed as investigating officer of the case. According to the police, Rs 10 lakh was withdrawn from the mutt’s account with the ICICI Bank after the September 3 murder and a substantial portion of that cash was recovered from the assailants after their arrest. One of the murderers also had in his possession the last letter written by Sankararaman to the Shankaracharya. The police traced calls from mobile telephones of the assailants to the victim.  |
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Ensure seer’s security, says Vajpayee New Delhi, November 13 Making his first public comment at an Iftar party hosted by him, the NDA chairman said: “The arrest has shocked the whole country. The manner in which he was arrested has hurt the people more.” “The court will do its work, but everyone should keep in mind that he is respected by crores of people. It is government’s responsibility to take care of his health and it should be also kept in mind that he spends maximum time in performing religious rites,” Mr Vajpayee, who earlier spoke to Home Minister Shivraj Patil on the development, said. The 70-year-old seer was arrested in Mehboob Nagar in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday in connection with a murder case. Meanwhile, anger is mounting up with the VHP and Shiv Sena activists staging a demonstration here with its leaders vowing to “avenge” the step and seeking the intervention of President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to secure the pontiff’s release. VHP’s working president Ashok Singhal alleged that the Shankaracharya’s arrest was “as grave an attack on Hindu community as the destruction of Somnath Temple centuries ago” and called for a “fast” tomorrow in the country as the seer had reportedly not eaten anything since his arrest. “Shankaracharya, who is the greatest spiritual figure in the world, can’t be tried like an ordinary criminal. A committee should be formed to look into the merits of the case before his trial proceeds,” he said. Mr Singhal, also demanded that an Act be brought in to provide some sort of immunity to pontiffs, so that such an incident does not happen in the future. He said: “We have a government of non-believers in this country,” referring to the UPA Government backed by the Communists and DMK. “This attack on Hinduism will be avenged,” Mr Singhal, said. Questioning the need to arrest Shankaracharya as “he would not have absconded”, VHP international president Vishnu Hari Dalmiya lashed out at the Central Government saying it was “a red, Communist government which did not know how to respect the saints”. Interestingly, both Mr Singhal, and Mr Dalmiya, spared Jayalalithaa-led Tamil Nadu Government whose police arrested the Shankaracharya. The Shiv Sena also protested against the arrest and detention of the Kanchi Shankaracharaya Swami Jayendra Saraswathi and demanded his immediate release and punishment of those behind a “conspiracy” leading to the arrest. Addressing an emergency meeting of the Shiv Sena here this morning, senior leader Abhimanu Gulati alleged that the Kanchi Shankaracharya has been arrested on instructions of the Congress-led UPA Government as he had cooperated with the previous NDA regime to find a unanimous solution of the Ayodhya.
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