Principal District and Sessions Judge C S Murugan on Friday posted hearing on the petition filed by Sankararaman’s wife Padma, seeking re-examination of her and family members and police protection, to June 13.
The Judge told Manikandan, the counsel for Padma, that a division bench of the Madras High Court had already rejected the plea for a re-trial in the Sankararaman murder case. He also pointed out the fact that police protection had already been granted to Padma’s family as sought in the petition.
The Judge allowed advocate Manikandan to apply for copies of the depositions made by the 189 witnesses during the examination and posted the matter to June 13 for arguments on the petition. Judge Murugan reminded the counsels of both sides that further proceedings in the case could be taken up only after disposing off the petitions filed by Padma.
The Judge also reiterated that the trial court had no powers to remove the public prosecutor as sought by the petitioner. It was for the Puducherry Government to take a decision on it.
Special Public Prosecutor N Devadoss, whose removal was sought in one of the petitions, explained to the court about the ‘hardships’ he faced in the course of the trial in the last three years. He also sought a speedy disposal of the petitions after the arguments.
Defence counsel Rajarathinam urged the court to ask Padma’s counsel to argue on the case on June 13 itself so that the arguments of the main case could be resumed.
Seventeen of the 24 accused were present on Friday. One of the prime-accused, Kanchi Acharya Jayendra Saraswathi, was not present, while another accused Vijayendra Saraswathi was present.