Love triangle at centre of temple murder charges

Indian police have charged a seer, his lover and her husband with murder after they allegedly poisoned rice at a village temple, causing the death of 15 devotees, as part of an attempted power-grab.

Police say the conspiracy involved the trio and an unwitting agricultural development officer. The plan, they said, was to murder their rivals on the board of the Kichguth Maramma temple in the village of Sulwadi.

Mahadeva, the seer, allegedly orchestrated the plot so he could be put in charge of the temple’s expansion and control a 3.4 million rupee ($71,520) surplus fund. The plot also left more than 100 temple-goers in hospital.

Pesticide was used to contaminate the prasad (offerings) during a ceremony to bless a new temple chamber, Karnataka Police alleged when they announced the arrests of Mahadeva, 52; Ambika, 35, a devotee with whom he was having an affair; Madesha, 46, her husband and the temple manager; and Doddaiah, 35, a priest at a nearby temple. They were charged with murder, conspiracy and destruction of evidence.

K. V. Sharath Chandra, the inspector general of police, said: “More than who did it, we focused on why they had done it. We were convinced that it was a wanton act of poisoning.”

Investigations revealed evidence of an internal rift between two temple factions, one led by Mahadeva and the other by the trust chairman, Chinappi, who survived the incident, reported The Times of India.

Chandra said Mahadeva allegedly told his accomplices the incident would bring shame on Chinappi’s family and hopefully kill him, but it was “no problem if three or four people died”.

Ambika sourced the insecticide from an unnamed relative, who was an agriculture department officer, allegedly on Mahadeva’s orders, after she said that she needed it for her garden plants. When he heard what had happened at the temple, he contacted police.