Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu:
Allegations that the Kanchi Sankaracharya, bribed a judge, is shaking Tamil Nadu. The Kanchi seer Jayendra Sarawati is the key accused in the Shankarraman murder case. The Madras high court stayed the trial for eight weeks on Thursday.
Already fighting a murder case, Kanchi Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati, is now facing charges of bribing the trial court judge for favourable orders. In a recorded telephone conversation which was leaked the seer is heard allegedly telling the judge. "In one week we shall settle the balance fully.'
Following a petition to probe corruption charges, the Madras High Court has now stayed the Shankarraman murder trial in which the Kanchi seer is the key accused.
Manikandan Vathan Chettiar, counsel for the petitioner says, ''There is a possibility of the judge having been fixed and the judgement having been fixed. A retrial has been sought.''
Sources close to the Seer and the judge in question deny these allegations and say they will fight it legally.
The Kanchi Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati said, ''I never spoke about money. I have seen the judge just once and I never spoke to him.''
However the issue has strengthened a demand by activists to bring the judiciary under a stringent law to probe judges facing corruption charges.