Monday, Jan 17, 2005
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By Our Special Correspondent
CHENNAI, JAN. 16. In a detailed response to criticism of her handling of the Kancheepuram Sankararaman murder case, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, today said her Government would maintain law and order in the State in an "exemplary manner" and uphold the "majesty of law" without fear or favour. "The investigation is being carried out by the officers according to a clear plan and with circumspection as they do in all such cases. The Sankararaman murder case is being investigated in the same manner as other such cases in any police station in Tamil Nadu," she said in a 2900-word statement.
`No speculation'
"No one wished and no one expected that the heads of the Sankara Mutt, established to uphold the Hindu Dharma, would stray from the path of Dharma and the doctrines of the Shastras to be arraigned as accused in a murder case. At the same time, when all the evidence clearly pointed towards them in the commission of such a crime, that could not be ignored. Guilt or innocence can be established only when the full-fledged trial takes place in the Court and until then, all the previous stages up to the stage of filing of [the] chargesheet form part of the domain of investigation. At this stage, there can be no room for speculation as to whether this or that fact or document establishes the crime and whether the evidence so gathered is enough to prove the crime," she said. "With the progress of investigation by the police, a situation arose wherein the arrest of Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Swamigal, the head of the Kanchi Mutt, became inevitable. That law must take its own course requires no specific directions or orders. Hence, I was informed only on the point of the need to take steps for maintaining law and order and public order after such an arrest. While the action taken by the police and the stand of the Government were widely welcomed by the public, there have also been some unfair and unwarranted comments by certain persons and by a certain section of the media. What these persons and these newspapers and TV channels would have said and written in the event of the law not taking its course in any other murder case, is anybody's guess," she added.
`Difficult investigation'
The murder was no ordinary incident. "Should this brutal crime be left uninvestigated? Is it their view that the hired assassins and conspirators should be allowed to go scot-free?" she asked. The investigation of such a murder, "the result of a sinister conspiracy with deliberate intent committed by unidentified hirelings," was not easy. "Based on the thorough investigation and only on the facts as they emerge, the persons involved in the crime can be arrested one by one as the crime unfolds. The basic principle of any investigation is to gather the facts assiduously, collate them, relate and interconnect the evidence so collected. The arrest of the persons involved is an integral part of the investigation process," she said.
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