A local court today adjourned to July 16 hearing in the Sankararaman murder case in which the Kanchi seer Jayendra Saraswathi and his junior Vijayendra, are the prime accused.

Special Public Prosecutor N. Devadoss told newsmen that Ananda Sharma, son of the slain Sankararaman, filed a petition before the court today seeking copies of the chargesheet relating to the case. The petitioner said he had to submit them in the context of the plea recently filed by Padma, Sankararaman's wife, before the Madras High Court for transfer of trial from the Puducherry court to the High court.

Following this petition, Principal District and Sessions Judge C S Murugan adjourned the hearing to July 16.

As per the earlier schedule, the court was to have taken up for expeditious disposal the two petitions Padma had filed on April 27 seeking retrial and also police protection.

The police protection had already been granted by the court.

Only six of the 24 accused in the case were present during the hearing today and the absentees included the two seers and petitions were presented listing reasons for their absence.

The two Kanchi seers had been charged under IPC sections 120-B (Criminal Conspiracy) and 302 (murder).

Sankararaman, manager of the Varadaraja Perumal temple here, was murdered on the temple premises on September 3, 2004.

A total of 189 witnesses, including Padma, her son and daughter, were examined during the trial between 2009 and 2011. Eightythree of the witnesses had turned hostile during the trial, shifted here by the Supreme Court on a petition by Jayendra Saraswathi.