Prayers at Kanchi mutt day before murder verdict

CHENNAI: A day before the verdict in the Sankararaman murder case, in which the Kanchi Acharyas are the main accused, special prayers were organised on Tuesday by devotees of the Kanchi Mutt for a favourable verdict. Followers chanted slokas and read from religious scriptures at the Mutt’s Chennai branch at Chetpet.
“Around 300 devotees chanted slokas and read from various religious scriptures.We insisted that no one should discuss or even utter a word about tomorrow’s verdict. Devotees prayed for a favourable verdict,” former Kanchi Mutt spokesman Valasai Jayaraman said. The prayer meeting started around 2pm and went on up to 5pm. Poojas were conducted in houses of devotees and in some temples across the state.
The mood on the Kanchi Mutt premises was sombre. “The senior acharya conducted the daily pooja and other routine chores,” said a mutt source. But devotees as well as the mutt staff hope the two seers would be acquitted in the case. In the hope of a favourable verdict, the Jayendra Saraswathi has planned a trip to Tirumala on Thursday.
In Puducherry, where the special court will deliver the judgment, police have proposed elaborate security arrangements on the day of judgment to prevent any untoward incidents.
More than nine years after the manager of a temple in Kancheepuram was murdered inside the temple premises, a Puducherry court will deliver the judgment in the sensational case in which the Kanchi seers, Jayendra Saraswathi, 78 and Vijayendra Saraswathi, 44, are the prime accused on Wednesday.
A Sankarararaman, manager of the Sri Varadharajaswamy temple at Kancheepuram, who leveled charges of financial mismanagement against two Kanchi seers, was found murdered inside the temple premises by an armed gang on September 3, 2004.
The murder case that attained nationwide attention for the last decade took several twists and turns, including prosecution witnesses turning hostile during the course of examination and reexamination. Puducherry principal district and sessions’ judge C S Murugan will deliver the judgment on November 27.