Chennai, January 22
In what appears to be a vindictive move, the Tamil Nadu police special investigation team probing the Sankararaman murder case today invoked the Goondas Act against Kanchi Mutt manager, Mr Sundersa Iyer and junior pontiff Sri Vijayendra Saraswati’s brother, Raghu, to detain them for a year without trial.
The police used this draconian preventive measure only a day after it submitted the charge sheet in the Sankararaman murder case against the Kanchi Shankaracharya, the junior pontiff and 23 others, including Mr Iyer and Raghu. Raghu had earlier recorded a confessional statement under Section 164 CrPC but later retracted it.
The Kancheepuram District Collector Mr R. Venkatesan, passed the detention orders under the Goondas Act.
