Shankaracharya Released

Shankaracharya Released

Tuesday, January 11, 2005 (Chennai):

Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Sarawati has been released from Vellore jail today.

Procedural hassles related to his release, like submission of his passport have been sorted out.

Security outside the Vellore jail, where the Shankaracharya has spent the last two months, has also been stepped up.

Abode in Kalavai

The head of the Kamakshi temple, Sri Nataraja Shastri, said that Jayendra Saraswati, when released, will perform a traditional puja in Kalavai.

The seer is also unlikely to nominate anyone else, and will be staying at the Kalavai mutt.

Kalavai is 40 kilometres from Kanchi, and is the place the Paramacharya of Kanchi, late Chandrasekerendra Saraswati, often stayed.

Without a seer

But till the release, the centuries old Kanchi mutt is without a senior or junior seer for the first time ever.

The junior seer, Vijayendra Saraswati, was arrested just hours after the Supreme Court granted bail to the Shankaracharya.

Vijayendra has been arrested and charged with murder and criminal conspiracy.

He will now spend fourteen days in judicial custody at the Chennai central prison.

Political storm

Meanwhile, the timing of the arrest is set to create a fresh political storm with the opposition BJP wasting no time in protesting.

A delegation of senior party leaders met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday to express concern over the turn of events.

"We expressed our concern that the arrest could disrupt the activities of the 2,500-year-old mutt. We have lodged our protest," said BJP leader L K Advani.

"The government has assured us that they will examine all legal aspects of the case and take appropriate action," Advani added.

The BJP has also sent senior leader Sushma Swaraj to receive the senior seer today, on his release.

Jayendra Sarawati was arrested in the Sankarraman murder case on November 11, 2004. He was granted bail by the Supreme Court on in the case Monday.

Anticipatory bail

Meanwhile, the seer also moved a session's court for anticipatory bail in a third case.

He is anticipating arrest for an alleged assault on temple priest, Tirukoshtiyur Mahadevan, two years ago.

The petition is likely to come up later today.