Mysuru: Did Ms Ambika, wife of Kuchuguththi Maramma temple manager Madesh, mix the lethal insecticide which has killed 15 devotees so far, in 15 kg of rice bath prepared as prasada at the temple?
Police sources, who refused to come on record, told Deccan Chronicle that she may have done it allegedly on the ‘instructions’ of the junior seer of a prominent matha.
The sources claimed that this crime may have been committed allegedly due to the internal conflict in the temple administration.
Ten people have been detained so far and are being questioned, the sources added. However police officers are yet to make an official statement.
The toll of the Kuchuguththi Maramma temple tragedy in Sulawadi , Chamarajnagar district, rose to 15 on Tuesday with another devotee passing away at noon from eating the prasada.
Dundamma, 50, of Male Mahadeswara Hills (MM Hills), died at the Cauvery hospital in Mysuru at 12.10 pm on Tuesday and her body was handed over to her relatives after an autopsy.
Dr K.H. Prasad, district health and family welfare officer, Chamarajnagar district, said that 104 devotees, who fell ill on eating the prasada, including 53 women and 14 children, are still being treated in 12 hospitals in Mysuru and in a Salem hospital in Tamil Nadu. As many as 24 are in ICU and 23, on ventilator support.
The latest victim, Dundamma's son- in- law, Mahadev, said she was an assistant in the dasoha kitchen of the Male Mahadeswara temple. Having lost her husband when she was just 25, she raised her five daughters single-handedly and got them all married. "She had taken two days off work to visit her two daughters in Maartalli and left on Thursday, telling us she would be back Saturday morning. As the next day happened to be a Friday, she visited the Kuchchuguththi Maramma temple in Sulawadi , which was over a kilometre from Maartalli, at 8.30am After having the prasada she walked back home by around 11.30 am and collapsed. She was rushed to the Kamagere hospital, and was referred to a hospital in Mysuru, but did not recover," he grieved.
Deputy Commissioner, B B Cauvery of Chamarajnagar said an ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh had been given to the families of each of the victims.
