Mysuru: IGP (Southern Range) K.V. Sharath Chandra has confirmed that two people, Gowdruchinnatti, a member of the temple’s administration, and manager Madesh have been taken into custody for questioning.

Gowdruchinnatti’s son Lokesh said that the tomato bath was not meant to be served as prasadam but was meant for the members of temple administration. “Initially, we had got a smaller quantity of tomato bath. We had prepared it for it to be consumed after the puja since we were not supposed to eat anything before that. When the devotees came and told us that they were feeling hungry, we gave them a little bit. We decided to give the tomato bath to those who came. It was not meant as prasadam,” Lokesh claimed.

Investigators say that the temple trustees and the members of the village were not on good terms due to a dispute about the ownership of the village. Upon questioning Lokesh, the long-standing dispute, Police say, could have been the reason why the food was poisoned.

“Initially, the temple was being managed by people from Tamil Nadu. There was no Gopura or even a proper structure above the sanctum sanctorum. It was when my father took over the day to day management that the temple was renovated. This was many years ago. The problem is that the people of the village consider this temple as theirs. We decided to fight for the temple,” he said.

“In an incident which had occurred a few months ago, the people in the village had beaten up one of the trustees from TN. There were also many differences between the trustees and my father. The tomato bath was meant for my family members and we only shared it with people who asked us. At one point, people assumed it was prasadam and queued up for it. We were just giving them the food,” Lokesh claimed.

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