Kanchi mutt on a media offensive

The Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam of Kancheepuram on Tuesday came out with full-page advertisements in national and regional newspapers seeking to refute allegations that Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati had any hand in the murder of a temple official, Sankararaman.

The Shankaracharya is currently in judicial custody in Tamil Nadu's Vellore Jail in connection with the case.

Sankararaman, according to the advertisements, was never an employee of the mutt, 'as is being made out to be'.

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'He was an employee of a temple in Kanchipuram at the time of his death,' the advertisement said.

'Sankararaman wrote several letters to His Holiness over the last several years, accusing the swamiji and several others of various acts of omission and commission, to put it mildly.

'He marked copies of several of his letters to the CM, the leader of the opposition... Everyone just ignored these letters as those of a disgruntled blackmailer who was threatening to "expose" the two swamijis [Jayendra Saraswati and his deputy , Vijayendra Saraswati] and the mutt.'

The mutt refuted the prosecution's allegation that huge sums were withdrawn from its accounts to pay Sankararaman's killers. It provided a summary of its bank accounts for April-September 2004 (Sankararaman was killed on September 3).

The mutt also denied that the seer had made any confession to the police.

It also sought to put an end to the speculation about the mutt's wealth, without giving any figures, though. 'The mutt essentially comprises of itself, its branches and a few trusts which are directly controlled by it. Most of the other trusts are independently run and funds, activity and investments are managed by them. The mutt has no say in these trusts and their accounts are not consolidated with the mutt. The mutt does not have access to their funds and cannot draw anything from their resources.

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In fact, the mutt said that if the loan taken by the Kanchi Kamakoti Sankara Hospital (Rs 64.98 crore) is taken into account, its residual cash, bank balances and investments 'are too meagre even to warrant a mention'.

With regard to Anuradha Ramanan, who has levelled charges of sexual misconduct against the seer, the mutt asked why she waited 12 years to say these things. 'Why did she preside over the function at the Kanchi Kamakoti CHILDS Trust Hospital on 01.08.2003, if she had such ill feelings towards the acharya and the mutt?'