Accounts: HC grants advance bail to Seer

The Madras High Court has granted anticipatory bail to Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati, who apprehended arrest in connection with t...

The Madras High Court has granted anticipatory bail to Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati, who apprehended arrest in connection with the ‘‘tampering and fabrication of mutt accounts case’’.

When the matter came up before Justice M. Thanikachalam on Friday, public prosecutor K. Doraisamy said the material collected so far were not sufficient to rope in the Shankaracharya in this case.

Recording the submission, the judge granted anticipatory bail to the Shankaracharya. The petitioner should appear before the investigating officer as and when required, the judge said.

According to the petitioner, the prosecution registered a case on January 4, 2005 against mutt accountant Kaladi Viswanathan and former manager N. Sundaresa Iyer following a complaint from SI A. Dakshinamoorthy of Siva-Kanchi police station.

The complaint alleged that the duo, as required by the investigating agency, had produced the ledger and cash books of the mutt from April 1, 2004. On verification, it was found that certain pages in the ledger and its cover were missing. Many entries were found fabricated and when questioned, Viswanathan said he had done so on instructions from Iyer. After a case was registered against the duo, the petitioner expressed apprehensions that he also would be implicated in the case.

Meanwhile, junior Shankaracharya Vijayendra Saraswati was today released on bail. His counsel A. Shanmugam presented to the jail superintendent around 1.15 pm his release order issued by the Chengalpattu Chief Judicial Magistrate. He was welcomed with ‘poorna kumbham’ by scores of devotees, including BJP national secretary L. Ganesan and Hindu Munnani leader Rama Gopalan.