Singhal can’t meet seer, performs puja at prison gate

The Vellore prison authorities today did not allow VHP leader Ashok Singhal to meet the Kanchi Shankaracharya.Singhal, who went to visit Jay...

The Vellore prison authorities today did not allow VHP leader Ashok Singhal to meet the Kanchi Shankaracharya.

Singhal, who went to visit Jayendra Saraswathi after addressing VHP activists at a relay fast outside the District Collector’s office, told mediapersons that the police had earlier granted him permission to meet the seer but had later changed their mind. The leader, nonetheless, lit camphor at the prison gates and performed a puja there.

‘‘I am not a politician. I am only a religious leader. Why should they deny me permission,’’ he asked, adding that he wanted to meet the Shankaracharya not only to enquire about his health but to seek clarifications on the Usha episode too.

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Claiming an international conspiracy behind the arrest and subsequent attempts to defame the Shankarachrya, he charged that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa has succumbed to ‘‘external pressure’’. He demanded that all cases against the seer be shifted out of Tamil Nadu.

Meanwhile, the prosecution in the Sankararaman murder case today presented the case diary in a sealed envelope to the Madras High Court.

Yesterday, Justice R. Balasubramaniam, while reserving his order on the bail application, directed the prosecution to produce the case diary before him.

The Acharya’s senior counsel I. Subramanian also made a mention before Justice Balasubramanian to submit additional citations with regard to the high court’s power to grant bail.

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Laying emphasis on the power of the high court to grant bail to the Acharya, senior counsel I. Subramanian said Sections 437 and 439 (both relating to bail provisions) stood on different footings.

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