CM meets ‘Kanchipuram widow’

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa on Wednesday handed over a cheque for Rs 5 lakh to the widow of Sankararaman, a temple official wh...

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa on Wednesday handed over a cheque for Rs 5 lakh to the widow of Sankararaman, a temple official who was murdered at Kanchipuram, the case in which Kanchi Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati has been arrested.

Jayalalithaa, who had announced the compensation in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, handed over the cheque to his widow Padma, an official statement said today.

Talking to reporters, Padma said she thanked Jayalalithaa for the ‘‘timely help’’ and said she would use the amount for the educational expenses of her son Anantha Sharma and daughter Uma.

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Meanwhile, prominent religious leaders in Karnataka expressed ‘‘outrage’’ over what they called ‘‘ill treatment’’ of the Kanchi Acharya, but said the law should take its course.

Condemning the ‘‘treatment meted out to the Sankaracharya as if he were a criminal’’ and disregarding his status as the temporal head of an important Math, religious leaders who meet in Bangalore to discuss the issue, said it had caused them deep anguish.

‘‘We as swamijis are not above the law. We have to uphold the constitution as citizens of the country. But the Sankaracharya should have been treated with respect in keeping with his status. He has been ill treated as if he had a long criminal history,’’ head of the Taralabalu Math and prominent leader of the dominant Lingayat community, Shivamurthy Shivacharga said. Speaking to reporters after the meeting convened by the ‘Acharya Sabha’ of Karnataka, they stressed that the court should take the final decision on the murder case.