Kanchi case: Wife of murder victim tells CJ of threat

CHENNAI: In a stunning allegation, S Padma, wife of Sankararaman, who was brutally hacked to death inside a temple at Kancheepuram in 2004, has complained to the Chief Justice of the Madras high court that she and her family members were threatened into giving false evidence during the murder trial.
Sankararaman, a former employee of the Kanchi mutt, was murdered inside the Lord Varadaraja Perumal Temple on September 3, 2004.Kanchi Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi and his junior, Vijayendra Saraswathi , are the main accused in the case.
On September 29, 2011, Padma sent a representation to Chief Justice MY Eqbal saying: “When I was taken for trial by CB-CID , I was threatened within the court premises, saying that my son and daughter would be lifted and put into an acid tanker, and that we would not even get their bodies… Most of the witnesses were coerced or bribed, and police and the prosecution were hand in glove… and witnesses were allowed to be bought over.”