Updated on Tuesday, July 25, 2006, 00:00 IST

Thiruvananthapuram, July 25: Kerala Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan on Tuesday asked the state intelligence to provide all details of the controversial case involving Sabarimala priest Kantararu Mohanaru, who has been stripped of his powers.

The Additional Director General of Police in charge intelligence has been asked to examine the complaints lodged by the 'Tantri' (priest) with the police and the investigations into them, Balakrishnan told a press meet here.

In a new scandal involving the Sabarimala shrine, one of its priests, Kandararu Mohanaru, was yesterday stripped of his status after police found he had lodged a false complaint about being attacked and forcibly photographed with a woman in Kochi. The police have said the priest used to visit the woman frequently, shrine sources said.

The recent claim of Kannada actress Jaimala that she had years ago entered the Sabarimala temple's sanctum sanctorum, which is barred to women aged between 10 and 50, had also created a flutter.

Balakrishnan said the government had decided to order a probe by the crime branch into the controversy triggered by Jaimala's claim.

The decision to go in for this probe was made on the basis of a request from the Devaswom Minister, who had forwarded the Travancore Devaswom Board's resolution in this regard. All issues thrown up by the Jaimala episode will be covered by this probe.

He said the government did not wish to turn a major pilgrimage Centre like Sabarimala into the focus of a controversy. "It is also keen to ensure that debates over Sabarimala will not hurt the sentiments of the devotees," he said.

Bureau Report