A crying boy being consoled by his grandmother after his mother died of suspected food poisoning at Bidarahalli, near Sulawadi village in Chamarajnagar. (Photo: PTI)

Women mourn the death of relatives (PTI Photo)

No matter if 3-4 people die: Seer

Priest feigned illness to hoodwink cops

Karnataka: Seer plotted food poisoning to oust temple trustee

CHAMARAJANAGAR: Determined to oust a temple trustee and wrest control of funds, a seer hatched a devious plot to poison devotees of the Kichguth Maramma temple in Sulwadi village in Kollegal, police said on Wednesday.At the seer’s behest, his lover, her husband and the priest of a nearby temple poisoned the prasada on December 14 which led to the death of 15 people and left over 100 devotees in hospital. The seer, Immadi Mahadeva Swami, and his three accomplices have been arrested. They have been booked for murder which is punishable with death.While the seer, who is the junior pointiff of Salur Mutt in Kollegal taluk, tried to mislead investigators, what helped police crack the case was the suspicious visit of an agricultural officer to the house of Ambika, the seer’s lover, eight days before the incident. The officer, a relative of Ambika, told police that he had given her two 500ml bottles of insecticide. Ambika had told him that she needed it for her garden plants.Alarmed by the news of poisoning days later, the officer had called Ambika who reportedly told him that she did it at the behest of the seer. Ambika and Swami belong to the same village, were related and were in an extramarital relationship, IGP KV Sharath Chandra said at a press conference on Wednesday. “More than who did it, we focused on why they had done it. We were convinced that it was a wanton act of poisoning,” he said.The temple on the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border generates revenue of at least Rs 12 lakh a year and was recently taken over by locals from the residents of Bagur in Hassan district. Swami wanted to oust Chinappi, the main trustee of the temple seva samiti, who rejected the seer’s proposal to build a gopura for Rs 1.5 crore and went on to undertake the work without his support.When police reached Salur Mutt in MM Hills, junior pontiff Immadi Mahadeva Swami insisted he had done no wrong. IGP KV Sharath Chandra said the seer accused Chinappi and maintained that what had happened was right. He said he would feel no remorse if 3-4 people died due to poisoning, Chandra said. “His only aim was to take over the temple. He had misused offerings earlier but after a trust was formed in April 2017, his influence was restricted,” the IGP said.As the temple management decided to hold a special puja for foundation-laying of the gopura, Swami decided to have his revenge. Ten days before the event, the seer roped in Ambika to procure insecticide, police said.During investigations, Sulwadi villagers told cops of the visit of the agricultural officer. The officer was detained for questioning and he led cops to Ambika, Madesh and Doddaiah, the IGP said.Ambika took the help of her husband, Madesh, the temple manager. He, in turn, called Doddaiah, the priest of a nearby temple who had a grudge against Chinappi, who is also a gram panchayat member of Martahalli. Following an argument with him, Doddaiah had not visited the Kichguth temple for months. He returned on December 14 and while Madesh distracted the cooks, poured the insecticide into 15 kilos of rice being cooked for prasada.Soon after the poisoning, Doddaiah admitted himself to hospital, feigning illness after eating the food. Doctors and staff told cops Doddaiah had no health complications and did some blood tests which confirmed he was healthy.During investigations too, efforts were made to defame Chinappi. Following the revelations on Wednesday, Chinappi’s sons Santhosh and Lokesh said they were happy that their father’s name had been cleared.IGP Sharath Chandra said a total of 45 police personnel, including 22 officers, had conducted the investigation and more than 45 people had been quizzed. “We had sent a team to Tamil Nadu where about 100 persons from Bagur were questioned in four days. After forensic science reports confirmed insecticide was mixed with the food prepared at the temple, our investigation angle changed,” he said.The seer and his accomplices have been booked for murder, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence. They will be in police custody for 10 days.