In a development that has shaken the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, the police today formalised the arrest of Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati for attempting to murder S Radhakrishnan, a former mutt employee. The Shankaracharya’s arrest, under section 307 of IPC, was formalised by Kancheepuram Addl SP, Shaktivel, at Vellore jail, where the Shankaracharya is lodged in the murder case of Sankararaman, a local temple manager. Radhakrishnan, who was sacked after he fell out with mutt authorities, and his wife sustained serious injuries when hired men attacked them in September 2002. Police say the same gang which had murdered Sankararaman was involved in the attack on Radhakrishnan. They were now looking closely at a third assault—on T Madhavan, a temple priest, who too was nearly killed a few months ago. Meanwhile, one of the five men who had surrendered in the the Sankararaman case gave a sworn statement before the judicial magistrate here today.
