Indo-Asian News Service
Chennai, Jan 13 (IANS) Video excerpts on TV showing Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi defending himself in a murder case and criticising his junior have become the talk of the town. Barely a day after he walked out of the prison Tuesday, a sensation was created as some television channels aired videotaped interrogation of the pontiff while in police custody in the murder case that led to the seer`s jailing Nov 11.
The print media had already revealed some of the contents some time ago, but the 10-minute video clip shown on Sun TV, the largest private satellite channel in southern
And why did Sun TV choose to air the clip in Tamil knowing that instead of discrediting, it would strengthen the prosecution`s point of view in this case? Sun TV has said it received the tapes, in which the Shankaracharya is seen answering questions while lying on a string cot, from "unknown sources" and that the Chennai Police gave it the go-ahead on airing them.
According to the clip, the Shankaracharya lamented that his junior, Vijayendra Saraswathi, had shown no concern for him following his arrest and was more interested in saving his own skin. The pontiff admitted he was anguished by the critical letters written by Sankararaman, but denied any link to the man`s murder in September last year.
So who provided Sun TV with the videotape?
Some people are speculating that the investigating team might have panicked with bail granted to the seer and chose to release the CD to generate public opinion in its favour. But why was the video clip not shown on Jaya TV, the ruling party`s media outlet? The argument is if that had happened, the needle of suspicion would point obviously to the police. The SIT is already under cloud for arresting the junior seer the same evening when the senior Shankaracharya was ordered released on bail.
The theory that the SIT panicked gets strength from the fact that the state government ordered a major reshuffle of senior officers in the home department and police after the Supreme Court granted bail to the Shankaracharya. The transfers of Home Secretary Sheela Rani Chunkat and Director General of Police (Intelligence) I.K. Govind are seen as a reflection of the Tamil Nadu government`s unhappiness with the way the case was handled by these officers.
As far as Sun TV is concerned, the telecast of the video footage was done for two reasons. One, it served it commercially to air something sensational that could fetch it a larger viewership. The other motive could be to play on the anti-Brahmin card to consolidate the hardcore Dravidian vote bank ahead of assembly elections next year.
The main concern of people on the street is how this story would play itself out. There seems to be no end to unwrapping the layers of this case.
Indo-Asian News Service