No bail for Kanchi seer, notice to TN police

The Kanchi Shankaracharya will have to remain in the Vellore central jail till January 6 as the Supreme Court merely issued notice to the opposite parties but declined to release him on bail.

He sought permission to go to the mutt and perform special puja under police guard. However, the Bench headed by Chief Justice RC Lahoti did not grant the prayer.

The Bench sought the entire case record from the Tamil Nadu police, which said the probe into the Sankararaman murder case was still not complete.

Its counsel KTS Tusli said the details could not be disclosed as witnesses might be killed. However, the court asked him to produce on January 6 the alleged dying declarations, the documents pertaining to the ICICI Bank operations, who operated the account, the confessional statements of the accused and their subsequent withdrawal.

When FS Nariman sought bail for the puja, the chief justice asked why the seer came so late to the court, 10 days after the Madras High Court had rejected his request.

Jayendra Saraswathi had pleaded for interim bail saying the "Dhanurmasya puja" had been conducted without a break by all the Shankaracharyas and the ritual should not be allowed to be discontinued this year.

Another petition referring to the Radhakrishnan assault case of 2002 was moved before the same Bench, which also consisted of Justice GP Mathur and Justice PP Naolekar.

Tulsi objected to the seer moving the Supreme Court straightway, without going to the high court first, following the legal procedure. The court agreed to hear that petition also on January 6.

Meanwhile, it asked the seer to move the high court. In the Sankararaman case, the court also asked the police to produce the alleged confessional statements of the two accused persons on the next date of hearing.

The confessional statements were given to the police.When Nariman pointed out contradictions in the statements, the judges observed that they were irrelevant as they were made to the police. Confessions to the police is not admissible in courts. Only confessions before the magistrate has evidentiary value.