Sabarimala tantri sacked in connection with alleged sex scandal

Thiruvananthapuram, July 24 (UNI) One of the Chief priests of the famed Sabarimala Ayyappa temple in Kerala was sacked today by the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) after he was allegedly found involved in a sex scandal rept scandal.

The swift action came from the board this evening after the police had investigated and found to be ''false'' a complaint lodged by Tantri Kandararu Mohanararu that he was abducted by a group of ten people at Kochi yesterday and taken to a flat, where he was robbed of 40 sovereigns of gold and photographed with a nude woman.

''We took the action against Tanri Kandararu Mohanararu after viewing the statements of the police,'' TDB President G Ramain Nair told UNI over phone.

The incident came close on the heels of a controversy regarding the entry of Kannada actress Jayamala into its sanctum sanctorum.

Deputy Inspector General of Police K Padmakumar said the woman with whom the 'thantri' was photographed had been arrested by the police two months ago under the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act.

Police sources said it seemed that the priest had gone to the flat on his own and had not been abducted. As per the register kept at the entry of the flat, he had visited the house about 20 times in the past.

More UNI CGV-ARC-VV SB RK2118