Eight more accused questioned in Sankararaman murder case

Judge T Ramasamy of the Principal District and Sessions court put a total of 554 questions to the accused during examination, but they all denied as "untrue" the statements made by the prosecution witnesses during their (witnesses') examination in the court since commencement of the trial in the local court in April 2009.

The accused also denied having knowledge of what the prosecution witnesses had referred to in their statements during examination. The examination and cross examination of witnesses had concluded last week, paving the way for questioning of the accused.

The Kanchi seers were questioned yesterday and they had alleged that the case was false and had been "foisted" on them.

Sankararaman, manager of the Vardarajaperumal temple at Kancheepuram was murdered in September 2004. The two seers are the prime accused and had been charged under sections 120-B (Criminal conspiracy) and 302 (Murder) of the Indian Penal Code.

Except the two seers all the 22 accused were present in the court today. The two seers had submitted petitions adducing the reasons for their absence, sources said. The Judge adjourned proceedings to tomorrow for questioning the remaining 12 accused.

The trial was shifted to Puducherry from Chengalpattu court on a directive of the Supreme Court in a writ petition filed before it by Jayendra Saraswathi in October 2005.

A total of 187 witnesses including the wife of Sankararaman and his children were examined in the case since commencement of the trial here and 81 of them had turned hostile.