THE SANKARACHARYA'S ARREST

The Hindu : Opinion / Editorials: "THE DRAMATIC ARREST and incarceration of the Kanchi Sankaracharya, Sri Jayendra Saraswathi — the most high profile of all contemporary Hindu religious leaders — as the prime accused in a brutal contract killing of a humble adversary is a first in the annals of the rule of law. The message sent out by this action taken by the Tamil Nadu police, evidently with prior approval from Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, is that nobody, however high in religious or temporal matters, shall be above the law.

The facts investigated and reported by the press, notably the Tamil magazine, Nakkeeran, speak to a brutal and motivated murder; a crude attempt to cover up; and what seemed initially to be non-serious investigation. The combination proved explosive, triggering a decision by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam to launch a major agitation demanding action as required by the law. Consider these facts. A. Sankararaman, a highly orthodox acolyte of the Kanchi Mutt who had been close to the Paramacharya but turned bitterly inimical to his successor, bombarded him and the Mutt with letters, written pseudonymously and in his own name. He made allegations of financial malfeasance, nepotism and worse against the pontiff; he went to court accusing him of going against holy tradition by planning a visit to China, and so forth. He complained of threats to his life from Kanchi Mutt circles but was given no protection. Two years before Sankararaman met his gory end within the precincts of the Varadarajaperumal Temple of which he was the manager, S. Radhakrishnan, another ex-acolyte of the Kanchi Mutt who had become disenchanted with Sri Jayendra Saraswathi, had been subjected to a murderous knife attack by hired killers at his home in Chennai and survived, along with his injured wife, to tell the tale. But the police investigation into that case seemed to run into a political wall after gaining initial clues. "