JOIN USSaraswathi was charged with stealing a “precious” Shiva Lingam and several precious stones purportedly kept beneath the base of a Shiva temple in Tiruvarur district.
Kumbakonam additional chief judicial magistrate K Muralishankar “closed” the objection petition against Saraswathi and eight others of Mannargudi accused in this case, as he found the complainant, Suresh alias Krishnan, had not adduced “any evidence prima facie against the accused to proceed further."
The magistrate, whose order was received by the accused persons on Thursday, said that on perusal of the entire records in this case, “the court is of the view that there is absolutely no material or evidence to proceed against the accused. Hence the court “has no option but to accept the final report (of the investigating police officer)." Except on one occasion, the complainant did not even appear in court, the magistrate noted and "closed" the objection petition.
The FIR filed at Kottur police station stated that Saraswathi had visited the old Sri Agastheeswarar Temple at Periyakudi village, 15 km from Mannargudi, in November 2005, several years after its renovation. Suresh alleged that the seer and others who had accompanied him during that visit had "taken away" the Shiva Lingam and precious stones worth Rs 1.50 lakh.
The complaint filed by Suresh, ironically a former devotee of the seer, was put in cold storage for a long period. The investigation by the Kottur police was expedited on a directive by the Madras High Court after one of the accused V R Balasubramanian moved a petition seeking completion of the case, as a criminal charge against him stalled his plans to go abroad to meet his son there. But tragically, a 'heart-broken' Balasubramanian died the day the High Court’s directive to complete the police investigation came, sources said.
The investigating officer in his report to the court recently said that after inquiring all the accused in this case, including the Kanchi seer, he found Suresh's complaint baseless.
The latter had made use of the “circumstances” arising out of Saraswathi’s arrest in the Shankara Raman murder case .Also, the temple did not have any special 'Shiva Lingam' made of 'maragatham’ (precious stone) at all, except for the 'Lingam' installed in its sanctum sanctorum.