Usha hurt by reports linking her with spiritual leader

The Jayendra Saraswati case took a new turn yesterday with a woman, who the police said had relations with the Hindu priest, asserting that it was only a guru-disciple relationship.

The police on Monday said Jayendra Saraswati, who has been charged with the murder of the manager of a temple in Kanchipuram, had an ‘unspecified relationship' with Usha.

Police said Saraswati had provided her with living quarters in the temple town of Srirangam, about 320 km from Chennai, and that substantial funds had been transferred to her bank account from the Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt that he headed.

But yesterday, the 47-year-old Usha appeared along with her lawyers before a senior police official investigating the murder case and said there was nothing illicit or carnal about her relationship with the Shankaracharya.

However, she admitted that she had been receiving funds from the Mutt for medical treatment for her breast cancer.

Her lawyer, Sudha Ramalingam, said Usha had decided to present herself before the police and submit herself to questioning as she was quite agitated by reports linking her to the Shankaracharaya and the murder.

Meanwhile, Anuradha Ramanan, a leading Tamil writer, claimed that the Shankaracharya had made sexual overtures to her a couple of years ago.

She said that Saraswati had called her to the Mutt on the pretext of discussing the launch of a spiritual magazine and later propositioned her through an intermediary.

Anuradha alleged that when she refused to oblige, she had been intimidated over phone and through emissaries. She also alleged that there had been an attempt on her life.

She claimed that she had kept quiet about the incident as she did not want the name of the 2,500-year-old Mutt tarnished by "the act of one sex-starved man".

Meanwhile, the Madras High Court has reserved its order on the bail application of the Shankaracharya in the murder case.