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| Sunday, 14 November 2004 |
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Top Indian Hindu leader charged with murder of temple manager MADRAS, India, Saturday (AFP) One of India's top Hindu religious leaders, Jayendra Saraswati, has been charged with the murder of a temple official, police said Friday. Police flew from Madras to Hyderabad in southern India late Thursday to arrest Saraswati in connection with the killing in September of Thiru Sankararaman, a once-close aide of the leader who fell out with him last year. The 71-year-old was then flown to the pilgrimage town of Kanchipuram, 70 kilometres (43 miles) from Madras, in southern Tamil Nadu province, and appeared before a magistrate who ordered him detained pending trial. Court officials said the revered religious leader did not seek bail and smiled while being escorted to an armoured vehicle which took him to a high-security prison. Kanchipuram police chief C. Premkumar said Saraswati had been charged with first-degree murder and criminal conspiracy. He said 14 people were previously arrested in connection with the murder, including two on October 9, and folowing their questioning Saraswati was found to have "played an important role in the murder". Premkumar said several documents and details of bank transactions had been recovered which linked the crime to Saraswati. The temple official was hacked him to death in his office at Kanchipuram on September 3 and police have alleged the murderers were contract killers hired by Saraswati. Known popularly as the Seer of Kanchi, Saraswati heads the largest of the four seats of Hinduism and is the most respected religious leader in the Hindu diaspora. He heads the 2,500-year-old Kanchipuram Temple. Last year national leaders including President Abdul Kalam attended celebrations marking the golden jubilee of his ascendency to the post. Kanchipuram town was in a state of shock following the cleric's detention. Temple officials locked the two huge gates to the temple as curious onlookers and crestfallen devotees stood outside. |
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