Author: S. Gurumurthy
Publication: The New Indian Express
Date: November 26, 2004
On counter investigation we found
the case against the Sankaracharya slippery. Now it turns out that
the case is not just slippery, but actually groundless from day one.
Not just that, it involves a bit of fabrication too. Yes, fabrication to
fix the Acharya. The police are now running for cover. They may not
give up yet, may fabricate more to put the case, which is virtually
dead, on life support system. But the case is irretrievably lost. This
dramatic turn came on Wednesday in Kancheepuram Magistrate's court. The
two criminals, on whom the police had exclusively 'relied' to name
the Sankaracharya as an accused in the case, have actually turned to accuse
the police as fabricators of the case itself!
On November 24, Kathiravan and Rajni
were brought to the Kancheepuram magistrate's court for extending their
judicial remand. At that time Kathiravan wished to make a statement.
The prosecution protested, 'his confession having been recorded in
camera, he should not be allowed to speak'! The court overruled, asked
Kathiravan to write his statement. As his hand had been rendered inoperative
by the police bashing, the magistrate himself recorded his statement.
In the next few minutes, speaking
extempore, Kathiravan demolished the police case against the Acharya,
exposed them as fabricators of the case against him. He told the
court that he, along with his friends, was arrested on November 3.
Not, as the police lied, on November 9. [His lawyers had recorded this
fact on Nov 3 itself] That between November 4 and November 8, under police
torture he said what the police wanted him to say. That he was kept in
a Marwari's house in Uthandi, on the outskirts of Chennai for two
days and beaten black and blue. That he was shown to different persons
as Kathiravan [so that they may say they knew him, even though they
did not know him]. That from Nov 4 to 8, he was kept in 'Paramount
Hotel' in Sriperumpudur in Room nos 108 and 109, and was tortured
to confess 'as the police wanted'. That he was made to sign on blank
sheets. That on Nov 9, he was made to stay in the office of the Additional
Superintendent of Police, Kancheepuram, and in the night made to say,
'whatever the police wanted him to say' in front of a video camera and
in the presence of the Tehsildar. That he was remanded the next day,
November 10. That between Nov 15 and 17 he was pressurised to make
judicial confession under sec 164 of the Penal Code 'as the police
wanted'. That he was not allowed to meet his relatives, his brother too
was arrested. That.... Kathiravan went on.
All this Kathiravan told a stunned
court and the public totally spontaneously. He corroborated his statements
with events, places, and dates. He demonstrated that the police were
fixing the Acharya through him. He admitted that his confessions
to the police and to the Tehsildar, used to arrest the Acharya, were
obtained under duress. So the star witness against the Acharya in
the court is today the star witness against the police in public!
But the more dangerous is the testimony
of Rajni alias Chinna who also said that he was bashed up for days
to tell lies against himself and the Acharya. He lost his teeth in
police bashing. He exhibited his injuries to the court. What he said
was also identical to what Kathiravan said. Yet both had never met
before. He may be the smoking gun against the police who know he is not
involved in the crime at all! He is a petty pickpocket, cannot even
wield a blade, according to insiders.
Rajni also claimed to have a copy
of the telegram he had sent to the Chief Justice of the Madras High
Court complaining of the torture! Statements of Kathiravan and Rajni
are highly corroborated, also spontaneous. They were all along in
police custody. Even their relatives were not allowed to meet them.
Kathiravan and Rajni cases are fit
for the National Human Rights Commission to act suo moto. If the
NHRC does not, some one will have to move it. That will expose the
forces that have fabricated the case and fixed the Acharya. Now after
what Kathiravan and Rajni told the Magistrate at Kancheepuram, not
the Sankaracharya, but the police stand accused. But still it is
Sankaracharya who is in jail and those who are accused of fixing him by
fabrication are keeping him in jail. This bizarre situation is a
product of a perverted investigation and an equally perverted decision
to arrest the Sankaracharya on the basis of a perverted investigation.
Yes the prosecution has all but collapsed. The only question is who
will do the funeral for it and when. It can happen forthwith if the
State realises it has been misled by police. Or years later though
courts. Emboldened by the dishonesty of the media the police may still
attempt more fabrication to fix the Acharya. But it will get into
more trouble and also get the government into more embarrassment.
But who will admit that the case is dead? Not the media which virtually
turned the prosecutor, nor the State whose police is the fixer. Then
who, except the court?
