Show Cause To Servitor After Backlash Over Shilpa Shetty’s Lingaraj Temple Viral Photos

Bhubaneswar: Hours after photos and a video of Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty taken in restricted areas on Lingaraj Temple premises sparked a controversy, a show-cause notice was issued to a servitor and an official on Tuesday for carrying a mobile phone during her visit to the 11th-century shrine.

The photography in prohibited area had led to outrage among devotees, who alleged lack of policing and special treatment to VIPs while allowing them to violate temple guidelines.

“We have served show-cause notice to a servitor and a supervisor in connection with the matter since they were seen in pictures with the actor… They have been asked to reply within seven days,” Additional District Magistrate (ADM) Rudra Narayan Mohanty, who is also in charge of the temple administration, told PTI.

According to sources, the actor was in the state capital on Monday to inaugurate a jewellery shop and had visited the temple in the evening. She later posted pictures and a video of the shrine on her social media handles, which have now been deleted. A man, identified as Niti Supervisor Raj Kishore Mohapatra, was seen guiding her through the temple.

Ekamra-Bhubaneswar MLA Babu Singh also questioned as to how cameras or mobile phones were allowed inside the temple premises despite a ban. “No camera is allowed even when the Prime Minister visits the shrine. It is the responsibility of the servitors to apprise the celebrities about the restrictions. Strict action needs to be taken against those found involved in such incidents,” he told reporters.

The temple servitors, however, blamed police deployed at the temple for the breach. They alleged that two VIPs entered the shrine with mobile phones last week. No action is taken against them even when they use their mobile phones openly in front of everyone, they claimed.