Puri: Exploiting the religious sentiments of the devotees, a group of unscrupulous people have been found to be selling duplicate ‘Abhada’ (cooked prasad) of Jagannath temple in Odisha’s Puri town.
According to sources, thousands of devotees from different parts of the country visit Puri to have darshan of the sibling deities in the temple and partake the famous Abhada at Anand Bazaar on its premises. Since most of the devotees are unaware of the rituals and puja process in the temple, this group took advantage of it.
They tell the devotees that since Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra are in “Anasara Ghara” (sick room), the offering of prasad including Abhada has come down. They convince them that they have kept some Abhada separately for the devotees and sell the duplicate prasad from a temporary hotel on Loknath Road in Paika Sahi of the pilgrim town.
These dishonest people have also kept typical earthen pots used for serving the Abhada to convince the innocent devotees. But the food they provide is cooked in a hotel and they charge a hefty amount for the prasad on the plea of scarcity.
When some journalists accompanied by local police reached the spot, all the people doing dishonest business managed to escape. However, police have filed a case and started investigation, the sources said.
