Principal District and Sessions Judge C.S.Murugan adjourned the hearing after Manikandan, counsel for Sankararaman's wife Padma said, he would present a petition seeking copies of the documents of statements of the witnesses for making his submissions.
On the plea for retrial sought by Padma in a petition filed in April last, the Judge told her counsel that the local court did not have powers to order a retrial.
The Judge also said police protection sought by Padma for her and her family had already been given.
Padma, in her petition filed in April, sought retrial alleging that she and her children were threatened and forced to give false evidence as prosecution witness.
Sankararaman, manager of the Varadaraja Perumal temple here, was murdered on the temple premises on September 3, 2004. The prosecution case is that the two seers have conspired with the assailants to kill Sankararaman due to previous enmity.
Junior Sankaracharya Vijayendra Saraswathi was among 17 of the 24 accused present in the court during the hearing today. Jayendra Saraswathi's counsel informed the court that he was away in North India on a pilgrimage.
A total of 189 witnesses, including Padma and her son and daughter, were examined and cross-examined during the trial between 2009 and 2011. Eightyseven of the witnesses had turned hostile during the trial, shifted here by the Supreme Court on a petition by the Sankaracharya.
