Sankaracharya
remanded to 5-day police custody
Kanchipuram/Chennai:
The Chennai High Court sent Kanchi Shankracharya Jayendra
Saraswathi to five-day police custody in connection to the
murder case for which he was arrested last week. Police
had requisitioned his custody saying that it was necessary
as the seer had connections with influential political persons
and also because the family members of the deceased, a manager
at a temple who was once close to Shankaracharya, were being
threatened. Earlier, the Shankaracharya was brought in a
police convoy from Vellore prison to the court of the judicial
magistrate at Kanchipuram. The Shankracharya appeared before
the court where the Tamil Nadu police applied for his custody.
Only a day earlier, State Chief Minister Jayalalitha, who
is known to be at loggerheads with the seer, had told the
state assembly that there was "clinching evidence against
the seer".
Hindus
continue protests over seer's arrest (Go
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Gwalior/Nagpur:
Radical Hindu activists are continuing protests against
the arrest of the Shankaracharya of Kanchikamakotipuram,
Jayendra Saraswati. The revered seer was taken into police
custody last Thursday for his alleged collusion in the September
3 murder of Sankararaman, a temple manager. The Shankaracharya,
who is currently lodged in the Vellore Central Jail, was
on Thursday remanded to five more days of police custody
by a magistrate's court following a police demand to extend
his custodial period. Simultaneosuly, the Madras High Court
was due to hear his application for bail, which was postponed
from Wednesday.
The
right-wing Bajrang Dal, a fiercely radical group known for
its often violent forms of Hindu fundamentalism, held a
massive march in central Gwalior city on Wednesday, demanding
the seer's release. "One should think before putting a heinous
charge against such a respectful seer. We respect even the
priest of small temples and they have arrested a saint who
is a mass spiritual leader. We condemn this," said Vandana
Pandey, an activist. "Attacks on Hindutva are happening
from both internal and external forces. From the happenings
in the last few days, it is clear that there is a conspiracy
to defame the Hindu society. They (Congress party) think
that if they defame renowned Hindu seers, they we will be
able to attack Hindutva," said RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan
in Nagpur on Thursday. Saraswati is head of one of five
Indian monasteries said to have been founded in the 8th
century by the Hindu philosopher and religious reformer,
Adi Shankaracharya. The arrested pontiff was consulted by
the previous led government during efforts to resolve a
deadlock on building a temple on a site in Ayodhya sacred
to both Hindus and Muslims.
Godhra
carnage prime accused rearrested (Go
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Ahmedabad:
Ahmedabad Police on Thursday rearrested Salim Zarda,
the prime accused in the February 2002 Godhra train carnage
case, over a month after his escape from police custody.
Zarda had escaped on October 13, 2004, police sources said.
"The accused, Salim Zarda, was captured from Bharuch district
early this morning," the police said. Zarda, a highway robber,
was first arrested by Rajasthan Police from Jaipur and then
handed over to the Gujarat Police for probe in the train
carnage case.
Bihar
doctors strike ends (Go
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Patna:
The indefinite strike by doctors in Bihar against the
killing of a surgeon N.K. Agarwal was withdrawn on Thursday
with the Indian Medical Association resolving to restore
health services across the state. "We have asked the doctors
to resume work immediately facilitating restoration of health
service which was paralysed during the past five days due
to the stir," Dr Sahajanand Singh, IMA general secretary,
told reporters after an emergency meeting of the association
today. According to the sources, police had arrested some
accused in N.K. Agarwal's killing last night and had facilitated
the release of kidnapped Nagendra Prasad, following which
the strike was called off today.
Uma
Bharti offers apology for outburst (Go
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New
Delhi: Uma Bharti, who is presently under suspension
from BJP's primary membership, is said to have written two
letters to party chief L.K. Advani in which she offered
to tender apology. Reliable sources said that the beleaguered
leader sent two separate letters to Advani offering apology,
but also sticking to her earlier stance that the issues
that she wanted to discuss threadbare should be discussed
at length now. She also reportedly expressed regrets for
having hurt the BJP president by her action at the meeting
of the central office bearers on November 10. She added
that she considered him not only her "political ideal but
a father figure". Uma further said in the letters that even
if the party agrees to take her back "she would think before
rejoining the party". She said that the party too owed an
apology for charging her with taking credit for her campaign
on issues like self-reliance, which she said she had done
for the sake of national interest.
Natwar
congratulates Rice over phone (Go
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New
Delhi: External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh spoke
to newly appointed US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
over phone this evening and congratulated her on her assumption
of office. Later, the minister said that he looked forward
to working with Rice to further strengthen Indo-US bilateral
relations. According to him, Rice told him that the two
countries had a great relationship and she looked forward
to extending it and making it even more solid. Notably,
the erstwhile national security adviser Ms Rice took over
from Collin Powell, who served President Bush in his first
stint that ended recently. Bush managed to win a second
term for himself. He installed Ms Rice as his new US Secretary
of State. According to White House sources, Rice is one
of the Bush's trusted leutenants.
