Chamarajanagar: The Chamarajanagar District Court has rejected the bail applications of three accused persons, who were arrested following the death of 17 devotees who had consumed poison-laced prasada at Kichuguth Sulwadi Maramma Temple here in 2018.

Former junior pontiff of Salur Mutt at Hanur taluk Immadi Mahadevaswamy is the prime accused in the case. The co-accused are Manager of the Temple Madesha, his wife Ambika and former employee of the Temple Doddaiah.

While Immadi Mahadevaswamy, who was behind bars for a period of seven years, but suffering from physical ailments was granted bail by High Court for a period of one year to avail medical treatment in November last year, other three accused Madesha, Ambika and Doddaiah had moved bail application. But the Court rejected their bail applications yesterday.

The case: The tussle for power among the trustees of Kichuguth Sulwadi Maramma Temple Management, which was rich in revenue, led to the conspiracy, hatched by Mahadevaswamy in connivance with the co-accused in the case. All they wanted was to grab power by hook-or-crook and put rival faction in dock. The prasada distributed to devotees was spiked with poison in December 2018 that claimed 17 lives, leaving 123 others severely ill.