The Karnataka Police Wednesday claimed to have solved the case of poisoned prasad at Maramma temple in Sulawadi village of Chamarajanagar district that has resulted in the death of 15 people so far, with the arrest of a local seer.
KV Sharat Chandra, inspector general of police (Southern Range) said at a media briefing that Immadi Mahadevaswamy, the junior pontiff of Saluru Mutt and president of the Kuchchugutti Maramma temple trust is behind the poisoning. Police said the seer had differences with other members of the trust, including the initial suspect, Chinnappi, over the construction of a gopuram (tower) and also on the regular affairs of the temple.
Chandra said the pontiff instructed Ambika, the wife of the manager of the temple trust Madesh, to teach other trust members a lesson. Ambika, whom the police claim was having an affair with the seer, hit upon the idea of mixing a commonly available but very hazardous pesticide called Monocrotophos in the prasad.
Her husband Madesh drafted Doddiah an assistant cook at the temple to do the actual deed — mixing the pesticide with the prasad of tomato rice bath and panchamruta (mixture of bananas, milk and sugar). On the day of the groundbreaking ceremony for the gopuram, a large number of people gathered at the temple from surrounding villages and the poisoned prasad was distributed to them.
{{/usCountry}}Her husband Madesh drafted Doddiah an assistant cook at the temple to do the actual deed — mixing the pesticide with the prasad of tomato rice bath and panchamruta (mixture of bananas, milk and sugar). On the day of the groundbreaking ceremony for the gopuram, a large number of people gathered at the temple from surrounding villages and the poisoned prasad was distributed to them.
{{/usCountry}}In a fresh FIR, police have named Mahadevaswamy as accused No.1, Ambika as No.2, her husband as No.3 and Doddiah as the fourth accused.
Ambika sourced the pesticide from an agricultural officer who was her relative, police claimed but refused to name the agricultural officer, citing the need for confidentiality. “The person who has supplied the pesticide has confessed,” said the IGP
About 107 more people are still battling for their lives across hospitals in Mysuru and Chamarajanagara. All the accused will be produced before a court in Kollegal and police will seek their custody for 10 days in order to carry out further investigations, Chandra added.