National / World
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Actor Ranjitha Files Defamation Suit Against Kanchi Seer
- Sat, May 12 2012 10:01:04 AM
Chennai, May 12 (India Today): The woes of Kanchi Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati have increased with popular actor Ranjitha Menon initiating legal proceedings against the seer for his 'unhealthy remarks and innuendoes' about her.
This comes at a time when the pontiff is facing trial as the prime accused in the 2004 Sankararaman murder case.
The actor moved the additional chief metropolitan magistrate on Friday with a petition accusing the Sankaracharya of making malicious statements against her, intended at defaming and harming her reputation.
A devotee of the self-styled godman Nithyananda, whose appointment as the successor of the ancient Madurai-based Saivaite Mutt had stirred a hornet's nest, Ranjitha has decided to drag the seer to the Court. Interestingly, a sex tape showing her and the godman in a compromising position has landed both in court cases.
The present libel suit relates to a press briefing conducted by the Kanchi seer in Krishnagiri, where he had disapproved the anointment of Nithyananda as the heir apparent to the Madurai Mutt. But what had irked the self-styled godman and Ranjitha was the Sankaracharya's remark about the actor accompanying Nithyananda all along.
According to the actor's advocate Murugaiyan Babu, the magistrate had asked her to file the petition on Monday. "We were late today and the suit will be filed formally as directed by the court," he said, adding that the complaint is being made under section 499 and 500 of the IPC, which attracts a maximum punishment of three years' imprisonment.
In her complaint, Ranjitha says that the seer's comments made in the media had caused her mental agony and stress. Earlier, Nityanada had warned the Kanchi seer to withdraw his comments or else face libel proceedings from his devotees.