All accused to be present on July 18

PUDUCHERRY: Matters related to the Sankararaman murder case made some headway when the principal district and sessions judge T Ramaswamy directed all the 24 accused to appear before the trial court on July 18 without fail.The cross examination of all the prosecution witnesses was completed on Monday. Special public prosecutor N Devadoss examined the chief investigation officer, the then superintendent of police, Shakthivel, on Monday. A total of 189 witnesses had been examined, out of which 80 had turned hostile.The judge then fixed July 18 to question all the accused as per provisions of CrPc (questioning the accused based on the evidence). He also directed all the accused including Kanchi Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi and his junior Vijayendra Saraswathi to be present without fail.The trial had been shifted from Chengalpattu to Puducherry, following a Supreme Court order after a writ petition had been filed by Kanchi Sankaracharya requesting that the case be transferred.Sankararaman, manager of the Sri Varadarajaperumal Temple, Kancheepuram, was murdered on September 3, 2004. Kanchi Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi and his junior Vijayendra Saraswathi are the prime accused in the case.