Thiruvananthapuram, July 25: Questioning the Travancore Devaswom Board's powers to sack Sabarimala Thanthri (Priest) Kantararu Mohanaru after he came under the cloud
of a scandal, his father and head of the family of Thantris today alleged a conspiracy against his son.
"I do not believe all these things. There appears to be some conspiracy. The truth will come out with the blessings of Lord Ayyappa," Kantararu Maheswararu, the senior most member of the Thazhamon family of Thanthris, told reporters from his residence at Chengannur in Alappuzha district.
He said the TDB had no right to restrain a member of the family from performing the traditional duties as the court had ruled that the Thazhamon family was the supreme authority on spiritual affairs of the Sabarimala shrine.
As per tradition, the members of the family take turns to perform the duties at the hill shrine every year.
Mohanaru, whose term expired in less than a month, was yesterday divested of the status by TDB, in the wake of the disclosure by police that his complaint of having been
abducted recently by miscreants and forcibly photographed with a woman in an apartment in Kochi, was false.
After a preliminary probe, police reached the conclusion that Mohanaru was a regular visitor to the apartment.
Mohanaru, however, modified his complaint later stating that he had gone to the apartment on his own to summon a servant. He also appeared in the Central Police Station in Kochi last night to give his statement.
Bureau Report
First Published: Tuesday, July 25, 2006, 00:00