Seven people, including three women and a priest, have been brought in for questioning by the police following the death of a woman after she allegedly consumed ‘prasada’ that had been distributed at Ganga Bhavani temple in Chintamani town on Friday night. She died on Saturday morning, while 11 others, including some children, are currently being treated at hospitals in Kolar and Chintamani.
“The priests informed us that the ‘kesari bath’ was not prepared on the temple premises, but was brought by some devotees,” a senior police officer said.
One of the women being questioned is a local resident, Lakshmi, who had taken a vow at the temple to prepare the ‘prasada’ and distribute it to visitors as part of a ritual. According to the police, she borrowed some vessels from her neighbours as she had to prepare a large quantity of kesari bath, and had entrusted the distribution of it to another woman, Amarathy, who is also being questioned.
Samples have been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Bengaluru, an officer said, and added, “Though we suspect the kesari bath was prepared using ingredients that were spoilt or had crossed the expiry date, we will wait for the FSL report and post-mortem.”
‘Need to set guidelines’
Reacting to the incident, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy said that there is a need for a set of guidelines to ensure such incidents are not repeated. The government will soon convene a meeting with the officials concerned to chalk out the same, he said.
