Laxman B. Nimbargi, SP, said on Friday that investigations into the death of Lakshmivara Tirtha Swami of Shiroor Mutt were continuing.
He told reporters after a phone-in programme at the District Police Office that the police were continuing to question people in the case. The samples have been sent to the Regional Forensic Science Laboratory in Mangaluru, while the Digital Video Recorders recovered from the Swarna River were sent to Bengaluru to recover the data.
An eight-member team of officers, including an additional Superintendent of Police, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, three inspectors and three sub inspectors, was working on the case.
To a query, Mr. Nimbargi said the postmortem report had stated that the final cause of death of Lakshmivara Tirtha Swami of Shiroor Mutt had been kept pending for the Regional Forensic Science Laboratory (RFSL) report. The RFSL report would be available in about four weeks. As per rules, the postmortem report was sent to the RFSL.
After the RFSL conducts its probe, its report would be sent to the doctor, who conducted the postmortem. Then the doctor would study both the reports and give the final cause of death. “That is the norm. The doctor cannot say anything until and unless he got the RFSL report,” he said.
He said the representatives of the Shiroor Mutt had handed over the possession of gold, silver and ‘pooja’ items from Shiroor Mutt to the Sode Mutt, which was now in charge of Shiroor Mutt. The necessary documentation had been done in this regard, he said.
He also said the police required the ‘moola mutt’ at Shiroor village, about 22 km from here, for some more days for its investigations.
