The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Acharya moves High Court for bail in assault case

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 21, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Acharya moves High Court for bail in assault case

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, DEC. 20. The Kanchi Acharya, Sri Jayendra Saraswathi, today moved the Madras High Court for bail in the `Radhakrishnan assault case,' pursuant to a Supreme Court direction in this regard.

While the High Court dismissed his second bail application in the `Sankararaman murder case' on December 8, the Principal Sessions Court here rejected his bail plea in the assault case on December 10. Stating that the grounds cited by these courts for dismissing the pleas were the same, counsel for the Acharya moved separate bail applications in the Supreme Court last week. Admitting the bail petition in the murder case and posting it for hearing on January 6, the apex court directed counsel to approach the High Court for bail in the assault case.

In the present petition, the Acharya said there was no more justification in keeping him under incarceration as all material witnesses had been examined and that the identification parade was also over. Further, the prosecution was now disabled from seeking police custody of the Acharya, the petition said.

Referring to prosecution submissions during arguments on the bail petition in the sessions court, it said, "the so-called recovery of weapons allegedly used by the assassins in the incident, which was recovered two years after the occurrence, is too big a pill to swallow." Also, "the so-called identification parade wherein the witnesses are said to have identified the accused was held after two years of the occurrence, and the parade would have had no value in the eyes of law as the identity and photographs of the accused were widely circulated by the media."

The confession of a co-accused is not "substantive evidence" and can be relied upon only to lend an assurance, that too after marshalling all other evidence.

If Mr. Radhakrishnan's letters, said to have been written in 2003, "clearly implicated the Acharya and his involvement, then why was he not interrogated and arrested, if need be," the petition asked.

Referring to the stand of the senior counsel for the prosecution, K.T.S. Tulsi, that had the police acted diligently on the letters written by Mr. Radhakrishnan, the death of Sankararaman could have been avoided, the petition said, "why no action was taken against the investigating officer concerned and the Chennai City Commissioner of Police for such lapses as admitted by the senior counsel?"

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