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KANCHEEPURAM, INDIA, November 19, 2004: A local court on Friday remanded Kanchi Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati to three-day police custody for interrogation in a murder case. Passing orders on a police petition, First Class Judicial Magistrate G. Uttamaraja said the police custody would be from 12:05 pm Friday to 10:30 am on November 22. The Shankaracharya was arrested on November 11 at Mehboobnagar in Andhra Pradesh in connection with the September 3 murder of local temple official Sankaramaran. A total of 18 persons, including the seer, have been arrested in the case so far. On Thursday, after hearing the prosecution and defence arguments, the magistrate had reserved his orders for Friday. The Shankaracharya was later taken away from the court to an undisclosed destination in a police van, amidst tight security, court sources said. They said that the area where the Shankaracharya would be kept would be disclosed only to the defence lawyer. “I am satisfied that there are sufficient grounds for granting police custody for interrogation of the accused. It is just and necessary for investigation. Jayendra Saraswati is hereby ordered to be granted to police custody from 12.05 pm (19/11/2004) to 10.30 am on 22/11/2004,” the magistrate said. Delivering his verdict at 11.45 am, the Magistrate said the accused could nominate a lawyer of his choice “to meet him” at the place of interrogation between 6 pm and 7 pm each day of his police custody. He also directed that a government doctor check the seer’s health every day. Later, one of Jayendra’s lawyers, Y. T. Thyagarajan, said that advocate V. Krishnaswamy, a member of the Thanjavur Bar Association, has been nominated by the defence to meet the Seer during his police custody period.

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