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	Senior Sabarimala Head Comes in Defence of Tainted Priest Telugu Portal [India] July 25, 2006 http://www.teluguportal.net/modules/news/article.php?storyid=8790 Kochi, July 25 (IANS) The supreme head of the Sabarimala temple, Kantaru Maheshwaru, has come to the defence of the head priest who was sacked over reports of his alleged sexual escapades. Maheshwaru said that he just cannot believe reports about Kantaru Mohanaru, who was sacked as thanthri or head priest by the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), the custodian of the temple, Monday evening after it was alleged that he used to frequent the flat of a woman who had been held in a prostitution case. "Such a thing can never happen in my family (thanthri family). I can make Mohanaru take an oath in front of Lord Ayyappa that he has not done such a thing," said Maheshwaru. Meanwhile, Kantaru Mohanaru insisted that reports of his alleged sexual escapades were part of an ongoing conspiracy to malign him and he would perform the monthly puja at the temple on Aug 9. Mohanaru had registered a police complaint on Sunday evening alleging that some people were blackmailing him after forcibly taking him to the residence of the woman and photographing them together. Acting on the complaint filed through the thanthri's counsel, police began a probe and found that he had visited the woman's residence on 20 occasions and his complaint was false. Emerging from the police station late Monday, Mohanaru said: "I have given my complaint to the police station." "I have mentioned everything in my complaint," he said when asked about his frequent visits to the flat of the woman, who was staying alone. The fresh controversy comes at a time when the temple has been already buffeted by a storm over claims by Kannada actress Jaimala that she had touched the idol of Lord Ayyappa around 20 years ago, flouting tradition. The Kerala government on Saturday ordered a probe by the crime branch of police into Jaimala's claim. The temple located in the Western Ghats in Pathanamthitta district bars women, who have attained puberty, from entering it.
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