Chennai, Aug 26 (IANS) Kanchi Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati, a prime accused in a murder case, Friday denied speaking to the judge hearing the case and negotiating for his acquittal.
"I have always believed in dharma. I have not spoken to the judge. I have met him only once during a hearing," Jayendra Saraswati told reporters in Kanchipuram, around 80 km from here.
He said he does not use phones now, and the phones and diaries in the past were taken away.
He was reacting to the charge of trying to cut a deal for his acquittal with the Puducherry trial court Judge T. Ramaswamy hearing the Sankararaman murder case.
The Madras High Court Thursday stayed the trial in the murder case for eight weeks in which Jayendra Saraswati and his junior seer in Kanchi Sankara Mutt Vijayendra Saraswati, are the prime accused.
Hearing a petition filed by P. Sundararajan alleging that Jayendra Saraswati had struck a deal with the Puducherry trial court Judge Ramaswamy for his acquittal, High Court Justice K. Suguna ordered the interim stay of the trial.
Sundararajan had presented an audio cassette purportedly with the recording of a conversation between Jayandra Saraswati and Ramaswamy.
According to Sundararajan, he had to move the high court as no action was taken on his complaint lodged with the Puduchery Sessions Court Vigilance Commissioner.
In the audio cassette, which was played by a Tamil television channel, a male voice was heard saying that the payment would be settled in a week's time and another male voice was heard saying he would take care (of the matter).
Sankararaman, a manager in the Kanchipuram Sri Varadharajaperumal Temple, was murdered inside the temple Sep 3, 2004.
In November that year, Jayendra Saraswati was arrested for plotting the murder near Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh. Vijayendra Saraswati was arrested later.
On the orders of the Supreme Court, the trial was shifted to Puducherry as the accused had pleaded that the trial will not be fair if held in Tamil Nadu. At that time, the AIADMK was in power in the state.
During the course of the trial, 87 of the 189 witnesses who were examined and cross-examined turned hostile.