The Hindu : Front Page : All suspicious deaths of persons connected with Kanchi Mutt to be probed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Dec 02, 2004

Front Page

Front Page

All suspicious deaths of persons connected with Kanchi Mutt to be probed

By V. Venkatasubramanian

KANCHEEPURAM, DEC.1. The Special Investigation Team probing the Sankararaman murder case has decided to look at all unsolved murders and suspicious deaths in recent years of persons directly or indirectly connected to the Kanchi Sankara Mutt.

It was in this context that the death of an 11-year-old girl, Yuvashree, an inmate of a girls hostel funded by the Mutt at Kancheepuram, was examined, according to informed sources.

The relatives of Yuvashree were asked to appear before the investigation team today. They — her mother Nalini, uncle Sethuraman and a distant relative, Venkatesan — came to the District Police Headquarters here and informed the police that they did not suspect foul play in the death as Yuvashree was not a healthy child even when she was admitted to the hostel at the age of nine.

The sources said that any information or complaints received against the Kanchi Sankaracharya, Sri Jayendra Saraswathi, who is an accused in the Sankararaman murder case, or relating to the Mutt, were being probed thoroughly to ensure that even a single evidence against the accused persons in this case did not go "unnoticed."

Even the interrogation of the Srirangam-based woman, Usha, and Muralidhara Swamigal, who is a family friend of Ms. Usha, came under this category.

Similarly, the case of suspicious death of Iyyappa Sharma, whose body was found in a temple tank in Kancheepuram, and the death of Kesavan, reportedly due to electrocution some years ago, were also being probed to ascertain whether there were any other reason behind their deaths as they had a link with the Kanchi Mutt in one way or the other, the sources pointed out.

Already, two out of the five special teams have started investigation in the Radhakrishnan assault case filed at the Foreshore Estate Police Station, Chennai, and the "Thirukoshtiyur" Madhavan attack case filed at the Thousand Lights Police Station, also in Chennai.

Search on for Appu, businessman

Special police parties have been sent to find the whereabouts of Appu, one of the accused in Sankararaman murder case, and a businessman, Ravi Subramaniam, who is also wanted in connection with the case. While two teams have been sent to Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka in search of Appu, another team is probing whether he has gone underground in Tamil Nadu. With regard to the businessman, a team is said to have gone to New Delhi on receiving some "authentic and specific" tip-off. The sources claimed that the investigation team had almost located Appu and Ravi Subramaniam.

With regard to Ms. Usha, Muralidhara Swamigal and a few others who were interrogated in connection with this case, the sources claimed that all of them, including an important person well connected with the Mutt in its affairs, might be included as prosecution witnesses. They claimed that this particular person could only be listed as a witness and not as an approver since accused persons alone could turn approvers.

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