Kanchi case: Two more point finger at cops

The petition also says the police brought Sankararaman’s widow, Padma, and her two children to the SP’s office, and introduced them to the accused. This was done even though Padma and her children may have been for an identification parade. Speaking to The Indian Express, defence lawyer Darwin Wisdom said he had information that Sankararaman’s family subsequently took part in an identification parade at Chennai jail. The police, however, refused to comment on this.

In a surprise move, the state government today replaced S. Davidson, the SP of Kanchipuram, who was overseeing investigations into the case. Davidson’s transfer orders were issued from Chennai barely hours after the PM’s letter, advising care and caution in the case, had reached Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa’s office. The Cuddalore SP, Prem Kumar, would assume charge in place of Davidson.

This is the second time in the last four days that the police’s role has come under a cloud. Earlier, Kathiravan, the fourth accused in the case, had told the court that he was forced to issue a false confessional statement. Yet another accused, Chinna alias Rajani, had claimed that he lost his teeth due to torture in custody.

The court here also ordered the extension of the Shankaracharya’s judicial remand till December 10. This was followed by the Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court in Saidapet, Chennai, ordering him to judicial remand till December 9 in another case involving former math employee, Radhakrishnan. The Shankaracharya’s lawyers are considering moving a fresh bail application in the Chennai High Court on Monday.