Puri: Singhadwar police have questioned four Jagannath Temple Police (JTP) personnel over the vandalism at the holy kitchen of the Jagannath Temple in Puri, where ‘Mahaprasad’ is cooked for the deities.
The four JTP personnel have also been issued showcause notices over the serious security breach. According to reports, one of the JTP personnel was in charge of security of ‘Bata Agana’ and ‘Nata Mandapa’.
The other three policemen had reportedly spotted a person on CCTV around 2 am on Saturday night, when the incident took place, but let him go. All four were on duty from 10 pm on Saturday night till Sunday morning.
Police have also questioned several servitors who were on duty till the ‘Sandhya Dhupa’ rituals on Saturday.
“We are investigating on the basis of footages collected from CCTVs. Efforts are on to trace the suspect caught on CCTV. Three JTPs who accompanied and dropped the suspect outside the temple are being interrogated,” said Puri SP Kanwar Vishal Singh.
Police are seeking the help of servitors and staff at the temple to identify the person seen in the CCTV footage.
Singh said CCTV footage has revealed that the person was inside the temple at 1 am past midnight. In separate CCTV footage, he is seen escorted out of the temple by JTP personnel.
During questioning, the JTP personnel were asked what the man told them, why he was inside the temple and why did they let him go.
A five-member police team led by Additional SP (Temple Security) is investigating the incident.
As many as 43 earthen stoves were found vandalised at the temple’s sacred ‘Rosaghara’ (kitchen) on Sunday morning, causing furore among lakhs of devotees across the world and cooks (suaras) of the 12th-century shrine.
Odisha Chief Secretary Suresh Mahapatra and DGP Sunil Kumar Bansal visited the temple on Monday to take stock of the probe into the incident.
Mahapatra said CCTV footage showed one person hid inside the kitchen and is believed to have ransacked the ‘chulhas’.
He, however, ruled out that the incident was the fallout of differences between ‘Suara Mahasuara Nijog’ and ‘Suara Nijog’, the two groups of cooks allowed inside the holy kitchen.
The incident comes at a time when the state government is already facing criticism over the Puri Heritage Corridor Project, with the opposition BJP accusing the government of carrying out work within the ‘prohibited area’ of the protected monument without obtaining clearance from both the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the National Monument Authority (NMA).
‘Rosaghara’ has about 240 earthen stoves. This is the first incident of vandalism at the holy kitchen.
