Shankaracharya, his arrest and aftermath - a cluster of thoughts

04.11.19
Shankaracharya – first take

Is the Shankaracharya guilty or is it a conspiracy against him?

It is improbable that a conspiracy would have been plotted that needed the carrying out of a murder.

Or is he opportunistically being implicated in a murder committed by someone else? It is unlikely to be this either, as anyone so seeking to implicate him would need to know all the facts of the case and it is not possible for any outsider to have all the background and facts of the case. But here an outside chance exists of a post-murder plot as his arrest took place after two months of the event and after the original case was closed by the police department. (?)

If the Shankaracharya were not involved, it would not take much time for him to convince anyone and everyone that he is innocent. Hasn’t he the advantage of being heard through by everyone? So it is obvious that he is involved.

Did he over the years build up a villainous gang under his command, using it progressively for murkier and murkier jobs? If this is so, how is he going to distance himself from the gang? Is he counting on his loyal gang to themselves deny that he was their ‘chief’?

Except for the diehard anti-Brahmin anti-Hindu brigade, and the impartial folks who want the ‘law to take its own course’ (which no doubt would add up to a considerable majority), there would be many who would see no gain in hanging the Shankaracharya but much benefit in freeing him. Some such persons must already have got together to save the Shankaracharya’s skin, being convinced that they would at the least get ‘punya’ in the bargain and hold a cheque which can be encashed at a later date, by way of an admission for the son, or a job for the brother etc. etc. through the Mutt’s not so inconsiderable reach.

Why is the Junior Shankaracharya so quite?


23.11.04

VHP Bandh failure

The bandh failure points to the indifferent lot the Hindus are becoming. Indifferent save when it comes to monetary matters, that is. Truly, we have to learn that if we loose our identity, we loose everything. And this is not an unspiritual truism. Even in the individual’s case, identity matters – that is, the right identity, the identification of the atma!


Law on arrest

I ought to make a study on the law of arrest. Shouldn’t there be sufficient grounds for arresting a person? Aren’t arrest and interrogation different? The irony is when a tough law of arrest like the POTA was introduced, the ‘secularists’ cried foul. Now where’s their righteousness when a Shankaracharya is arrested? Are they saying that Hindu holiness is worse than Muslim terrorism?


24.11.04

Shankaracharya – the 2nd charge

Why charge another case against the Shankaracharya? Appears they have discovered links between both the cases and it might be easier for them to pin him down with a two-pronged attack. It also means that they fear they have not come up with sufficient evidence to pin him with the case they are already straddled with.


25.11.04

Shankaracharya – witness turns hostile

With key witnesses accusing the police of torturing them to implicate the Shankaracharya, the case against the seer is as good as dead. Apart from ‘tutored’ witnesses, they do have mobile calls and bank accounts to shore up their case. Would these evidences stand scrutiny? Or do they have some sensational evidence up their sleeve? Only the coming days will tell. Meanwhile, it is clear that Sangha Parivar’s campaign for the Shankaracharya will come to have more and more takers in the days ahead.

Shankaracharya – Karunanidhi’s plot?

Did Karunanidhi plot the whole thing? After catching Veerappan, he sensed that Jayalalitha is gaining in popularity and decided that she had to be stopped somehow. A murder to implicate the Shankaracharya, he must have thought, would compromise Jayalalitha as she would hardly be in a position to go after the seer. He could then exploit the situation and erase any gains Jayalalitha might have made post-Veerappan. Jayalalitha however gave an unexpected twist to the plot by arresting the pontiff.
How could Karunanidhi’s plot have played out? He must already have been in the know of the rebellion of Sankararaman. Having decided to exploit the situation, he must have hired a professional gang to bump off Sankararaman. Of course, he would have covered his tracks in engaging this gang. He might even have engaged a ‘no questions asked’ gang. He must have gone further and got someone to use a mutt mobile phone. Which means he has a mole in the ship.


29.11.04

Shankaracharya confesses

Could the Shankaracharya’s confessions be true? If there is indeed such a confession on video, I am sure the police would have officially revealed it by now. Or would they have produced it clandestinely before Jayalalithaa for her decision? Would she in turn have asked the police to deny the confession to save the Shankaracharya and earn his eternal gratitude? If reports of the confession are not true, do not the publications run the risk of being sued or worse?

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The tragedy of Jayandra Saraswathi

Jayandra Saraswathi’s is a tragedy of epic proportions. Because he spent a lifetime in divine pursuit and had an epic fall. He was not just in pursuit of the divine, he was seen to be so and his was an enchanted life that launched a million devotees. And all gone in the 10 minutes he ‘lost his composure’. Wouldn’t the merit of a lifetime of tapas surely cushion his great fall?


30.11.04

Sushma denies Shankaracharya’s confession

Sushma Swaraj’s claim that the Shankaracharya has denied that he confessed ought not, at this juncture, be looked as anything more than a ‘defence strategy’. Being certain that during trial the prosecution would be on shaky grounds, he statement was also probably to shore up the morale of his followers. We have to survive to fight another day, might have been her insight. But the question persists, why has the prosecution hinted at womanising? Does this not indicate that there is a definite aim to tarnish the image of the godman?

Notice must be particularly made of the eagerness of NDTV reporter Pinto to conclude a ‘sleaze and sex angle’ just because an Usha was named. Has the pontiff confessed to this also?

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Shankaracharya – trapped in his own holiness?

Someone I met, from the Tamil Brahmin community, said if the Shankaracharya confessed, he is unlikely to retract his words. Maybe his followers would forgive a momentary lapse, but how can they forgive him if they see that he is trying to wriggle out of his own words? He was also certain that the pontiff would not get bail.

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La Affaire Shankaracharya would lead to exploitation

There would be serious ramifications a la affaire Shankaracharya, what with the Christian missionaries having got a live a amno for riddling the Hindu faith and making it ripe for large scale conversions, the communists having got a chance to go in for a massive propaganda against Sangh Parivar, the Muslims having got an opportunity to tell the ‘secularists’ that the real terrorists are the wolves in sheeps’ clothing that the Hindu leadership is made up of and the Sonia Congress an election bonanza by discrediting the company the BJP is keeping.

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Shankaracharya – sex and sleaze

Now there is the report of a women writer alleging that the Shankaracharya tried to bump her off. Is it turning out that the acharya was a sex maniac and a top-rate goonda? Is the persecution right after all? Where does this leave Sangha parivar? Sangha of course is not compromised as the pontiff, while he may been close to the Sangha, was in no way a product of Sangha or even a co-traveller? But Sangha would be deeply worried as the anti-Hindu forces would go in for the kill.

Shankaracharya – the anxiety

What is going to come out of it? The wait to know is most killing. Even as the game seems to be up, people like me would like to believe that the confession did not take place. Would Sushma Swaraj be called a liar and worse if it turns out that the Shankaracharya did not deny anything to her? Of course, she would justify what she said as simply a defence strategy. Then there is the question of the actual killing. Was he involved? Would it be proved beyond indictment in court? Even if he wins the court case, would he be able to sit in the gadi again? Aren’t charges beginning to pile up against him? Shankaraman; Radhakrishnan, wife and servant; the Embranthiris from Cannanore; Usha; the writer Ms. Ramanan. What else? How much more.

Shankaracharya – the parting

At what point would Sangha say, we had no clue. He seems to be a bad penny. We are no longer backing him. But we would strain all our nerves to protect the Kanchi Mutt.

Shankaracharya – the successor

When the denouement of the Shankaracharya’s involvement comes, what would happen to the question of his successor? The proceedings so far having managed to tarnish Vijayendra Saraswathi’s image also, would he be allowed to ascend to the gadi? Would Jayendra Saraswathi be allowed to anoint anyone as successor? It is sure that Jayalalithaa would have her moles and even loyalists in the ashram and they would plot to have a new person of their choice anointed as the new Shankaracharya.

Or would there be a move to bring the Kanchi ashram under the tutelage of the Sringeri ashram? The congress might foster such a move.

What would Sangha do under such circumstances? Would it suggest a committee of eminent mahamandeleshwars in its fold to take over the ashram? What would the followers have to say? Would the followers recognize their well wishers and the ashram’s-interest-at-heart people?

01.12.04

Shankaracharya’s amorous ways?

Usha, who the police said was absconding, has turned up. If she has no complaints against the seer and the seer had every right to help someone monetarily, where’s the problem? Then there is Radha Ramanan, who said another girl was in a compromising position with the seer and the seer invited her too for a celestial trip and the girl encouraged her by saying that it is the greatest fortune that can befall anyone, to be in the amorous grip of the Shankaracharya. Now we have to wait for the mystery girl to turn up.


Usha’s medical reports

If Usha has in a jiffy submitted medical reports, she is indeed a cancer patient. But still why would the acharya want to take take out form his pre-dawn rituals to talk to a woman? Would there be smoke without fire?

If in reality the swamis, gurus and tantriks are after material power, then obviously they have not experienced spirituality. If they have not experienced spirituality, then is there an experience like spirituality at all? Or is it that most people are unable to have such an experience but nevertheless pretend to have it to get the benefit of being in the know of a much-desired commodity among the credulous faithful?


They still seem not to have come out with anything substantial on the Shankaracharya except a lot of hearsay. Why was Usha inducted in the case with a lot of media fanfare but let of later, having no direct charge on her vis-à-vis the seer except that of a besmirching campaign? Where is the videographed confession? Where is Appu? What about the bank accounts and amounts withdrawn? Has the money found its way into the hands of the conspirators? The prosecution does not seem to have anything except a mind bend on persecution. The Hindutva forces are waiting in the wings for an eagle-swoop upon its enemies.

08.12.04

The Mutt’s rebuttal

The Mutt has done the right thing in challenging the wild stories being made out of the seer’s involvement in a murder and more. Now a cine star has come into the picture. Like a TV serial, drama is unfolding in instalments. Meanwhile, its come out that Ms. Ramana was part of the smear campaign of the murdered Shankaraman in so far as she drafted the letters of the late lamented fellow. Is her allegation of sex an after-thought to bolster the motive of the seer to murder to look plausible? Maybe the whole conspiracy was hatched by her for the purpose of blackmail and when she saw that it was not working, she directed a murder plot in frustration.

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Case of the century

There is little doubt that the Shankaracharya case is going to be the case of the century. It could be either a straightforward murder or a plot to implicate the Shankaracharya. While ‘seer a murderer’ verdict would tarnish all gurus and even spiritual teachings, the unravelling of a plot to implicate the seer would have a profound effect on the Hindu community as it would be easy to whip up a ‘we are under siege’ sentiment among the Hindus.

10.12.04

Source of allegations

With the film star denying any immoral involvement with the Shankaracharya, we ought to find out from which source the allegation arose in the first place.

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Prima Facie evidence, says High Court

How could the high court have come to conclusion that there exists prima facie evidence to deny the acharya bail? How can any evidence which is not substantiated be spoken of by the court as evidence at all? Their task was to grant or deny bail and this is done on the basis of charges levelled by the prosecution and the scope of bail in spite of the prosecution charges. Like if the applicant will run away from law etc. What was the persecution’s case for holding on to the accused for judicial custody? The merits or demerits of the case should have been on this aspect. But the bloody high court went beyond its brief and talked of prima facie evidence of murder. The high court will surly have to hang for this!

11.12.04

Jr. Pontiff’s brother

Now they are quizzing the Jr. pontiff’s brother. Is he, Raghu, going to confess to being the mastermind, stating that both his brother and the pontiff are innocent? But this is possible only if this is indeed a fact. One thing, however, is clear - the prosecution doesn’t seem to yet have much of a evidence to back its charges. What about the photograph in today’s Asian Age? First of all, how did Nakeeran get a copy of this picture? Hadn’t the High Court itself asked the prosecution to provide it with the videotapes? Why was the opportunity not seized and the tapes eagerly produced, so that everyone would see beyond a shadow of doubt that the police are on the right track? Having not produced the videograph and Nakeeran having to salvage its credibility, has it produced a misleading picture? Was this picture released by the police? If so, are not both actions against the law?

I commented yesterday that the High Court without any compunction almost seemed to produce a verdict that the acharya is guilty. What I felt is vindicated when we see the way a lower court the next day also refused to give the acharya bail, but instead of saying that there is prima facie evidence to pin the acharya, it said that the prosecution’s presentation seemed watertight as far as legalities go. This is the correct statement of the position and hence I feel that a case should be taken against the High Court judge who commented in an uncalled for manner.

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As far as morality goes, the question is not whether the Shankaracharya did this or that but whether he did anything against his own publicly professed beliefs.

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Could Karunanidhi have planned the whole thing through Nakeeran Gopal, believing that he can corner Jayalalithaa and gain political mileage? Karunanidhi might never have imagined the Jayalalithaa would so soon arrest the seer. Who could have been the inside person that might have been used in the plot? Could it have been Raghu? But how would they have hooked Raghu. Could they have played upon the politics of the Mutt? Would they have played upon the fear of an ‘immature’ Raghu by pointing out that his brother may not become the successor as the acharya is looking at someone else? Would Raghu have thought that his ‘future’ was thereby in peril? So they might have laid out a plan to implicate the acharya, have him step down and before you could have Kamatshi Amma, have the junior step onto the gadi? If Raghu’s motive is as I’ve put it, then again the question arises, why should he have someone prompt him to go ahead, could he not have done it all by himself? Even if such a thing crossed his mind, he is not likely to have the goons with him to do that. The plan would have unfolded only if the goons were behind the whole thing. Was the DMK leader Arcot Veerasamy the master-mind, upon nodding form Karunanidhi? Who knows, this is exactly how things might turn out to be.

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The allegation of murder against the Shankaracharya is getting to be quite like the allegation against the RSS in Gandhi’s murder. The murderer of Gandhi was Godse, but the RSS was blamed by an opportunistic Congress. Here Kathiravan must have murdered but the Acharya is been accused. Of conspiracy to murder, in both the cases.


15.12.04

Where stand’s the seer’s case? The application for bail to SC questions the High Court’s interpretation of SC’s Papu Yadav judgement.

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Why has the NDA delegation said that they do not anticipate a fair trail and therefore want the case to be shifted to another state? Do they feel that the conspirers have been able to implicate the seer so inextricably through ingenious planting of circumstantial evidences that only a probe from wholly new angles would be able to unravel the conspiracy? Seems so.

Meanwhile, the shifting of the Best Bakery case to Maharashtra has not made it a walk-over for the prosecution.


17.12.04

“I am prima facie satisfied that a case has been made out against Surjeet”, said C.B. Havelikkar, Metropolitan Magistrate in the defamation case filed against him by Anupam Kher on being accused of being a ‘RSS man’. This is no doubt the proper way to phrase the situation and not say that the accused is prima facie guilty, as the Chennai High Court said in the case of the Shankaracharya’s bail plea. Therefore a case should surely be filed against the loony judge who said it.

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I wonder whether the SC will grant bail to the seer. Will the seer call for efforts by the law enforcing agencies to catch the real culprits in the murder of Shankararaman?

Why did not the Jr. Shankarcharya issue not issue statements of the Senior’s innocence or go the meet him in prison? Maybe the Mutt did what was required in bringing out full page advertisements. But the Junior should have gone to see his Guru. Or as he taken a stand of “serves your right” as the grapevines were wont to wildly speculate?

18.12.04

So the SC did not grant even ‘interim bail’ to the Shankaracharya for performing an important puja. Why are the courts being so cruel to the Shankaracharya even though the trial has not begun?


The Supreme Court, I must say, always seems to say the right thing. In the seer’s case, it is just right that it has called for the case-diary and all related material from the Tamil Nadu police and the persecution, when they could have just dealt with the bail application on its merits. Now they seem to be reviewing the whole case and this is as good as the request for the case to be shifted outside the state. The Supreme Court is seizing itself of the whole affair to the larger picture, apparently. I can foresee the prosecution and even the Tamil Nadu government reel under the queries the SC is sure to put to them. I see the light at the end of the tunnel. January 6th would mark the beginning of the Hindu rebound.


In one report, it says that Shankaraman, the murdered temple official, had a tiff with a DMK leader over lease of some coconut grooves. Have the police investigated whether this DMK leader could have had a hand in Shankaraman’s murder out of vengeance? What about the shopkeepers he antagonised?


28.12.04

The worms that DMK cadres are, they could not stop themselves from stone-throwing merely upon hearing rumours of the death of their leader Karunanidhi even in times of calamity in the wake of the Tsunami.

30.12.04

So the year’s about to come to an end. The highlights of the year are the defeat of the BJP (and the coming to power of Sonia) and the arrest of Shankaracharya (not to speak of the end of Veerapan). Then of course the Tsunami. Could the Tsunami have been the reaction of nature to an act of extreme insensitivity in form of the incarceration of the Shankaracharya? Maybe because vital poojas could not be performed timely, a subtle balance in nature got upset and forces like the Tsunami were unleashed. Too antediluvian a theory? From the tantric point of view, may be not. Maybe not even from a Theosophic point of view.


05.01.05

After arresting the manager, they have now arrested the accountant. Both collaborators in murder? And they are blowing hot blowing cold on the Junior. Is the enquiry quite on tracks? Or are they just snooping around, hoping that they find some skeletons in unlikely places? They apparently have not found any in the cupboard.

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Is the chappie Alladi Aruna who was bumped off the same chap whom Kathiravan (accused in the Seer’s case) had known? If so, was someone trying to cover the tracks in case Alladi Aruna was questioned? The needle of suspicion points to none other than Karunanidhi.

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Well, I’ve gone on a flight of fancy above. I’ve just checked and it is a chappie called Arcot Veerasamy who was connected to Kathiravan. So much for imaginative investigation!


10.01.05

So at last the Seer has got bail. Where is he going to stay? That would be interesting as that would be a new place of pilgrimage for many. Would his presence be required in further court hearings? When are they going to frame the charges? Would he hold a press conference very soon? Would he tell his side of the story? What were in those letters which Shanakraraman wrote to him? What dark secrets did he threaten to expose? If the seer throws light on this, his position would be further strengthened. The bluff of the so-called motive would be called.

I wonder whether the TV channels would give as much prominence to the SC decision. Would they point out that it appears that Jayalalithaa acted in haste to imprison him?

BJP must up the ante by calling for Jayalalithaa’s resignation. The VHP should call for imposition of President’s rule in the state. (Not one AIADMK member thought fit to resign on the issue.)

Then, of course, there should be the bumping off of the Notorious One (who else but the fat one).


11.01.05

The arrest of the Jr. Shankaracharya even before the ink has dried on the SC judgement on Sr. Shankaracharya is proof enough that it is not law that is taking its own course but pettiness of the petty minded Chief Minister and her cronies that is taking its own course.

Another thing that is outrageous is the way any response from the Sangha Parivar, particularly BJP, is seen as cynical moves to garner votes. Man, aren’t folks allowed to have genuine feelings?


14.01.05

The televising of the ‘confession CD’ raises many disturbing questions. First, can the police make public custodial interrogation details without first putting it through the legal process? Was there a deal between the police and the television channels? Have the police the right to make such deals? And if such deals are profitable, where is the guarantee that the police would not manipulate confessions to make a killing? For example, they could have someone allege Shah Rukh Khan had unnatural sex with him. Based on this ‘complaint’, the police could arrest Shah Rukh Khan, interrogate him and later sell a CD of Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘confession’, laughing all the way to the bank. Everyone gains, including a scandal-obsessed public, except the poor Khan.

I hope the SC sees this aspect in all its seriousness and asks the TN police to explain how the CD got ‘leaked’ and take the TN government to task for allowing such sorry state of affairs. It should also ask the television channels to reveal how they got the CD, and why they were prompt to air it instead of bringing the matter to the notice of the courts.

The RSS is reportedly meeting today to discuss the Shankaracharya issue. Advani is also attending. I feel they would issue a strong statement, which would draw the counters of a huge agitation on affaire le Shankaracharya.


28.01.05

So the young seer has been denied bail. And now the TN Govt says that the Mutt is not a temple but only the residence of the Shankaracharyas (those scoundrels!). And therefore have nothing to worry about its take over?

04.03.05

The press is quite on the Shankarcharyas. And the Shankarcharyas are also quite. It might turn out to be the calm before an unexpected storm.

13.04.05

Swami Jayandra Saraswathi’s revelation that Jayalalitha and he had a problem over an hospital has brought in the factor of ulterior motive vis-à-vis Jayalalitha’s actions against the seer.


28.01.05

So the young seer has been denied bail. And now the TN Govt says that the Mutt is not a temple but only the residence of the Shankaracharyas (those scoundrels!). And therefore have nothing to worry about its take over?

24.01.05

Goondas’ Act for Kanchipuram and soft touch for POTA detunes?

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05.01.27

So would the court grant bail to the junior seer? It is almost sure that the case of murder against the seers would not stand scrutiny of the courts. While it is true that a person has been murdered and the murderer is at large, it not the court’s domain to bother about the murderer. They have only to adjudicate whether the charge brought against the accused is evidence enough for a verdict of murder. The job of catching the murder is of the police. If they fail the catch the murderer or catch the wrong person, the court is not responsible.


20.01.05.

Venkatesh’s saying that the Seer would turn the tables on his tormentors in the new year has proved to be remarkably prescient. Why, the prosecution has now been called to produce medical reports of Radhakrishnan’s injury. The SC is not taking anybody’s word at face value. To top it all, Jayalalithaa has lost her case for preventing the transfer of her corruption case to Karnataka.