Three more prosecution witnesses, including a woman, in the Sankararaman murder case, in which Kanchi Sankaracharya Jayendra Swraswathi and his junior Vijayendra Swraswathi are the main accused, turned hostile during the trial in a local court today.
Three of the seven witnesses examined by Public Prosecutor N Devadoss before Principal District and Sessions Judge D Krishnaraja contradicted their earlier statements made to the police.
Of the 24 accused in the case, only seven were present. The absentees included the seers who were charged undedr IPC sections 120-B (conspiracy) and 302 (murder).
The Judge adjourned the hearing on Friday.
So far 95 witnesses have been examined since the commencement of the trial here after the Supreme Court shifted the case from the Chengalpattu district court on a petition filed by Jayendra Saraswathi in October 2005. Fifty two of the witnesses have turned hostile.
Sankararaman, Manager of Varadaraja Perumal temple in Kancheepuram, was murdered in the temple premises on September 3, 2004.