Immadi Mahadevaswamy hatched conspiracy to malign Senior Seer and take full control of temple

Chamarajanagar: The Chamarajanagar Police have solved the mass food poisoning case in Sulwadi Maramma Temple in Hanur Taluk by arresting four people including Immadi Mahadevaswamy, the Junior Seer of Salur Mutt at Male Mahadeshwara Hill. The arrests uncovered a web of rivalry, greed, deception and illicit relations.

In all, 15 people died and more than 80 people took ill after eating the poison mixed prasadam distributed after rituals were performed at a foundation laying for construction of Gopura on Dec.14.

Addressing a press conference yesterday, IGP (Southern Range) K.V. Sharath Chandra said that the main accused is 52 year-old Immadi Mahadevaswamy alias Devanna Buddhi, 35-year-old Ambika, the Secretary of the Temple, her husband 46-year-old Madesha who is the Temple Manager, and Temple Priest 35-year-old Doddaiah Tambadi. Doddaiah was a former Priest of the Nagarakal (Serpent God) near the Maramma Temple.

DEADLY POISON

Giving details, the IGP said Mahadevaswamy masterminded the plot and it was Ambika who procured the deadly insecticide and then, Madesha and Doddaiah mixed the poisonous substance in the rice preparation without the knowledge of the Temple Cooks.

Ambika managed to get two bottles of insecticide (“monocrotophos”, an organophosphorus chemical used for pest control) from a relative, an Agriculture Department Officer, on the pretext that her garden had pests. On Dec.14, Madesha, along with Doddaiah, came to the Temple kitchen where three cooks — Eranna, Lokesh and Puttaswamy — had been preparing rice bath.

MASALA ODOUR

Madesha sent the cooks out, asking them to wash the plates and cups to keep them ready before the Senior Seer Guruswamy, other guests and devotees would come for the ground-breaking ceremony. When Eranna and Puttaswamy returned, they noticed a strong odour in the food they had prepared. But Madesha brushed their concerns aside, saying it was due to the strong masala powder used in the rice bath. Soon, people who ate the rice bath started complaining of stomach ache and vomiting and were rushed to the hospital.

Meanwhile, the Agriculture Department Officer, who watched news of the temple tragedy on television channels at his home grew suspicious and called up Ambika to inquire what she had done with the insecticide. She reportedly confessed that she had poisoned the prasadam on instructions from Mahadevaswamy.

KEY CLUE

During the probe, the Police picked up Ambika’s relative after local residents informed investigators that an Agriculture Department Officer had visited Ambika’s house a few days ago. The Officer admitted that he had given the insecticide to Ambika for her garden but was not aware of what she planned to do with it. The Officer made another key revelation: Doddaiah, who mixed the pesticide in the ‘prasadam’ (Accused no. 4), was in Ambika’s house with Madesha (Accused no. 3). This helped the Police take the case to its logical end.

RIVALRY OVER TEMPLE MONEY

The rivalry between Mahadevaswamy and the Trustees had been brewing for years. But after the Maramma Temple Seva Samiti was registered as a Trust in April 2017 and Mahadevaswamy lost control over the Temple earnings, the rivalry only aggravated. Mahadevaswamy had no access to the Temple earnings as the Trustees’ approval for using it was now mandatory. Then, Mahadevaswamy sought to build a Gopura (tower) to attract more devotees and revenue.

But a group of Temple Trustees — Chinnappi, Neelakanta Shivaachaari of Hondarabaalu and Shashibimba — opposed it. Eventually, the Trustees agreed to build the Gopura but did not keep Mahadevaswamy in the loop while finalising the dates for the foundation-laying ceremony.

CONSPIRACY TO MALIGN

“An irked Mahadevaswamy hatched a conspiracy to malign the Trustees and take control of the Temple. Around the same time, Doddaiah, a self-proclaimed Priest used to perform fake pujas in Nagarakal and charge exorbitant fee for it. Chinnappi had warned Doddaiah against such malpractices and when Doddaiah got arrested for possessing 1 kg of ganja by the Ramapura Police and was detained for five days, Chinnappi fired him from the Temple duty,” the IGP said.

“Doddaiah turned bitter towards Chinnappi. Ambika took advantage of the situation and promised to appoint Doddaiah as the Priest if he joined hands with her. She, along with Madesha and Doddaiah, poisoned the rice bath,” he added.

ILLICIT RELATIONSHIP

The probe also uncovered an illicit relationship between Mahadevaswamy and Ambika, who used to visit the Salur Mutt along with her husband. Mahadevaswamy had taken a house on lease in Maartalli and given it to Ambika. He also appointed Madesha as the Temple Manager and extended monetary help to the couple, too.

Incidentally, the Temple conspiracy was also a bid to cut the Senior Seer of Salur Mutt down to size, say the Police. Mahadevaswamy and the Senior Seer had been at loggerheads ever since the demise of the Pontiff of Salur Mutt. Two decades ago, the senior Seer succeeded the Pontiff of Salur Mutt. This upset Mahadevaswamy, who was the nephew of the late Pontiff.

After Temple elders intervened and struck a compromise, the senior Seer occupied the religious seat and got to keep the lands belonging to the Mutt, and Mahadevaswamy got control over the educational institutes. However, Mahadevaswamy was unhappy and used to bully and assault the senior Seer.

HOPES DASHED

Mahadevaswamy had hoped that by poisoning the prasadam, he could get even with both the senior Seer, and the Temple Trustees. But the magnitude of the tragedy was perhaps not what the four accused had imagined.

“Mahadevaswamy hatched the conspiracy some 8-10 days prior to the ground-breaking ceremony to build a Gopura. He wanted total control over the Temple and decided to tarnish the image of the Temple Trustees, especially Chinnappi, and also get them entangled in a criminal case,” Sharath Chandra told reporters.

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