Puducherry, Nov. 27: On judgment day, the two seers were on “maun vrat” (vow of silence).

Twenty minutes after the principal judge read out his verdict, the silence gave way to smiles. Jayendra Saraswati permitted himself a toothy smile as his aides let out a joint cry of relief. The junior pontiff, Vijayendra, looked heavenwards before breaking into a smile and did a grateful namaste to his mentor.

Puducherry principal sessions judge C.S. Murugan today acquitted all 23 accused in the murder of A. Sankararaman, the manager of the Sri Varadarajaperumal temple in Kancheepuram in Tamil Nadu, on September 3, 2004.

The judge cited lack of evidence to incriminate any of the accused in the murder and the prosecution’s failure to present credible witnesses to prove that the seers were part of a conspiracy to eliminate Sankararaman. He had allegedly threatened to expose misdeeds at the Kanchi Mutt.

The prosecution had arraigned 24 persons, but one of them, Kathiravan, was killed early this year. The arrest of Jayendra Saraswati, 78, on Diwali in November 2004 in Andhra and later his heir apparent, Vijayendra, 44, came as a jolt to the Kanchi Mutt.

The Mutt’s influence diminished considerably as its VIP devotees stopped visiting its headquarters at Kancheepuram, 100km from Chennai. The two spiritual heads were not invited even to religious events, including consecration of temples.

“Now that the taint has been washed away, our gurus can walk with their heads held high and immerse themselves fully in the service of humanity. Hindus all over the world are happy that the truth has finally prevailed,” said Ravi Sundar, an engineering consultant from Chennai who came with his family to hear the court ruling.

Many devotees had travelled miles to be present in the court. One did an aarti by lighting camphor, breaking a coconut and prostrating himself at the main entrance of the court complex.

The judge said the witnesses, including Sankararaman’s daughter, had failed to identify the accused in the court. The seers were charged with murder and criminal conspiracy.

Even public prosecutor N. Devadoss conceded the prosecution’s case was weakened after 83 of 189 witnesses, who had given statements before a magistrate under CrPC Section 164, turned hostile.

“Even the victim’s family changed their stand many times and Ravi Subramaniam, who became an approver, also did an about turn and reneged on his earlier statements,” Devadoss rued.

However, K.M. Subramaniam, the lead advocate for the defence, said the prosecution never had a strong case and most statements had been extracted under duress.

“Even the judge observed that investigating officer K. Premkumar showed undue interest to fix the pontiffs and that most witnesses had spoken under duress. They were unable to prove the motive due to which the conspiracy could not be proved,” he said. Premkumar died during the trial.

Sankararaman’s son Anand Sharma termed the verdict “shocking and unbelievable”. He said the family would go through the judgment before deciding the course of action.

Jayendra Saraswati had moved the Supreme Court and got the case transferred to Puducherry in 2005 on the ground that a free and fair trial was not possible in Tamil Nadu as the atmosphere was vitiated.

He is one of the five sankaracharyas in the country, who head the Dwarka, Puri, Sringeri, Badrinath and Kanchi Mutts. Each Mutt is totally autonomous.

The Kanchi Mutt presides over the Kamakhi temple in Kancheepuram and other temples established by it. It runs schools and colleges, veda patashalas, a deemed university and four hospitals. The value of the property under the Mutt is estimated to be around Rs 600 crores.