NEW DELHI, 11 January 2005 — The Supreme Court yesterday granted Kanchi priest Jayendra Saraswathi conditional bail in the Sankararaman murder case for which he was arrested Nov. 11. The court ordered him not to return to his mutt before formal charges are brought.
While granting bail, the three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice R.C. Lahoti, Justice G.P. Mathur and Justice P.P. Maolekar said: “We are of the opinion that prima facie a strong case has been made out for grant of bail.”
Admitting Saraswathi’s appeal challenging a Madras High Court order that had refused him bail, Justice Mathur said: “He will be relieved from prison after furnishing a bail bond and two sureties to the satisfaction of the trial court.”
Justice Mathur delivered the verdict in a jam-packed court and also wrote the judgment for the bench.
The priest was ordered to surrender his passport, cooperate with the investigation and appear before police when required.
The court dismissed objections from the prosecution that if the priest was set free, a number of witnesses in the case could feel pressured into lying.
Saraswathi’s bail plea, rejected repeatedly in lower courts, was heard Friday by the bench. The findings of the bench were released yesterday.
Thiru Sankararaman, 52, once a close aide to Saraswathi, had alleged financial irregularities at the institution headed by the priest, which controls assets worth more than 50 billion rupees ($1.14 billion).
Police in the southern state of Tamil Nadu — where Saraswathi’s 2,500-year-old mutt, or hermitage, is situated — said the priest was planning to flee to neighboring Nepal, which prompted his arrest.
Hours after the court ruling, the junior seer of the monastery, Vijayendra Saraswathi, was arrested in connection with the same murder case, the Press Trust of India said quoting police officers.
With the arrest of both men, the centuries-old monastery is now without a leader, the agency said.
More than 20 people are in custody in connection with the September murder.
News of the priest’s release on bail was welcomed by various Hindu leaders and groups.
Former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said his release had alleviated the “pain in the hearts of millions of Hindus.”
“It is with an immense sense of relief and satisfaction, shared by millions of my countrymen, that I greet the news,” he said in a statement.
Praveen Togadia, general secretary of the extremist Vishwa Hindu Parishad said Saraswathi’s release meant the Tamil Nadu police “could not present concrete evidence against him.”
“Since it could not gather evidence even after two months, the state government should immediately withdraw the cases against the seer and seek forgiveness from Hindus for hurting their religious sentiments,” he said.
Ram Madhav, spokesman for the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh said court proceedings showed the arguments against the priest getting bail were weak.
He described the case as “baseless propaganda to tarnish the image and reputation of an ancient Hindu institution.”
The detention of Saraswathi, held in very high esteem in India, had mushroomed into a political-religious drama followed closely by the national media.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had written to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalitha, asking her to ensure investigations against a “person of his eminence” are conducted “with extreme care and consideration.”
According to Jayalalitha, the police have “shocking but solid” evidence against Saraswathi.
— Additional input from agencies
