|
Shankracharya’s arrest : Widespread protests |
 |
One of the foremost Hindu religious leaders, Shankracharya Jayendra Saraswati of Kanchipuram, has been arrested in connection with the murder of a former Accountant of his mutt (religious centre). The accountant, Shankraraman, is reported to have sent a letter to the Shankracharya after stumbling upon financial irregularities in the mutt. It was intended as a final notice before going public about the mutt’s bunglings. It is alleged that after Shankraraman had raised the issue of financial irregularities, he was removed as Accountant. Later, he complained that his life was in danger and on September 3, he was murdered. Police arrested 17 people in connection with the murder and last week (Nov.11) arrested the Shankracharya for conspiracy and murder. He was flown to Chennai and taken to Kanchipuram and remanded to 15 days judicial custody by a Magistrate.
The police case is that the leader of the gang involved in the murder spoke to the Shankracharya on his cell phone before and after the murder. The day after the murder Rs. 10,00,000/- were withdrawn from the mutt’s account and reportedly given to the gang. Most of the money has been recovered with the bank’s seal in tact. Another Rs.95,000/- thousand was recovered from five people reportedly paid to falsely accept responsibility for the murder. Out of the five, who admitted to the murder, one was reportedly in jail on the day of the murder.
The arrest of the Shankracharya has raised a storm of protests, especially from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and also from several leaders of the BJP. They claim that he has been falsely implicated in the case to show top leaders of the Hindu religion in a bad light.
The Shankracharya’s followers had just finished a year long celebration of the 50th anniversary of his ascension to the holy seerage. For on March 22, 1955, the Paramacharya Chandrasekara Saraswati had nominated him as the 68th Shankracharya of the Kanchipuram Mutt. It had been a long journey for the man who was known as Mahadevan Subramanian before he took sanyas (renunciation)
The Paramacharya was considered by many to be z walking got; every Prime Minister after Nehru made it a point to have his darshan. As his handpicked successor, Jayendra was expected to follow in his mentor’s footsteps. But it was not to be. The senior Chandrasekara Saraswati, through strict adherence to the rigours of an ascetic life and a commanding knowledge of the Vedas had placed the Kanchi Mutt as a pivotal force in the country’s religious sphere after weathering the strident anti-brahmin propaganda of the DMK through the sixties and seventies.
|
