**Hindu priest bailed out in murder case **11-01-2005
NEW DELHI: India’s Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to a revered Hindu extremist suspected of murdering an aide, but ordered him not to return to his hermitage before formal charges are brought.
Jayendra Saraswathi, 71, the most powerful of Hinduism’s four chief priests, was arrested in November on suspicion of murder, criminal conspiracy and suppression of evidence over the death of his aide Thiru Sankararaman.
The priest was ordered to surrender his passport, cooperate with the investigation and appear before police when required.
Saraswathi’s bail plea, rejected repeatedly in lower courts, was heard by Friday by a panel of judges headed by the Chief Justice R.C. Lahoti. Their findings were released Monday.
Sankararaman, 52, once a close aide of Saraswathi had alleged financial irregularities at the institution headed by the extremist, which controls assets worth more than 50 billion rupees.
Police in the southern state of Tamil Nadu - where Saraswathi’s 2,500-year-old hermitage is situated - said the seer was planning to flee to neighbouring Nepal, which prompted his arrest.
The detention of Saraswathi, held in very high esteem in India, had mushroomed into a political-religious drama followed closely by the national media.
According to Jayalalitha, the police have “shocking but solid” evidence against Saraswathi, who enjoyed a mass following across the country. afp
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_11-1-2005_pg4_15
How come Hindu extremists always get away with murders in India?