Sankararaman case approver Ravi Subramaniam seeks protection

Chennai: In a fresh twist to the infamous Sankararaman murder case of 2004, Ravi Subramaniam, 59, an accused-turned-approver, on Friday lodged a complaint with the Chief Minister’s cell, saying that he and his family are under threat from Jayendra Saraswathi of the Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt. Apart from the Kanchi acharya, he had also said a former prison DIG, Ramachandran, now working as chief administrative officer of Kanchi university, was threatening him.

Ravi Subramaniam, a civil contractor from Aminjikarai, had allegedly introduced gangster Appu and Kathiravan to the Kanchi seer and reportedly paved the way for the execution Sankararaman, manager of Varadaraja Perumal temple in Kancheepuram. Sankararaman was reportedly exposing the alleged misdeeds of the mutt.

Ravi Subramaniam, in his complaint, said though he turned approver, he was forced to spend 9 years in jail while the suspects managed to come out of prison after spending a few months. “Though all the suspects were acquitted, my conscience is not allowing me sit idle and I want to reopen the case. The Kanchi seer came to know about it and summoned me to the mutt to threaten me with dire consequences. The mutt officials also used the name of former jail official Ramachandran to threaten me,” Ravi Subramaniam said in his complaint.