Following an investigation by the cyber cell, the names of temples listed illegally by operators of a suspicious website to attract online payments for poojas and related services were removed from the portal on Friday.
Functionaries of the Malabar Devaswom Board, who filed a petition with the city police, had complained that the website was engaged in “cheating the faithful” by offering online payment options for conducting poojas in prominent temples under its jurisdiction.
According to them, no third party agencies or websites had been granted permission to operate such a service. The operators had reportedly charged between ₹1,000 and ₹65,000 for the services. There were also images of prominent Kerala temples and deities on the website to lure the faithful, they said.
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In a press release issued here on Friday, Malabar Devaswom Board president M.R. Murali said the police had intervened to end the trickery.