KARAIKAL: An unauthorised website of the renowned Lord Shani Temple at Thirunallar in Karaikal district has come to the fore and is suspected to be duping gullible devotees of lakhs of rupees on the pretext of bookings for prayers at the shrine.
After it caught the eye of the Hindu Religious Institutions department, the active fake website has now come under the scanner of cyber crime officials.
According to sources, a complaint was registered by officials of Hindu Religious Institutions department in Puducherry in January in this regard. Since then, Karaikal’s cyber crime officials have been investigating the case. The department and temple administration have urged the police to take down the unauthorised website and take action against the website creator.
While the official website of the temple administration is https://thirunallarutemple.org, the address of the unauthorised website is said to be https://thirunallartemple.com.
An official from Hindu Religious Institutions department said, “We became aware of the unauthorised website after a couple of devotees contacted us over phone and told us that they had not received the ‘prasadam’ (devotional offering) from Lord Shani Temple for the prayer they booked on the website.”
The fake website appears to have options and information similar to the official website. A window pops up on the landing page with a link ‘Order Pooja Now’. When the link is clicked, it leads to more links with options like Monthly Kattalai Archanai (special prayer), Ashtothra Archanai (prayer for every Saturday for one year) and Sahasranama Archanai (prayer for every month on the day of birth star for one year). The website charges Rs 981, Rs 2,250, and Rs 5,001, respectively, for devotees in India, and $61 (Rs 5,355), $81 (Rs 7,110), and $151 (Rs 13,256), for devotees outside India.
Lord Shani’s shrine is located at Lord Dharbaranyeswarar Temple in Thirunallar. The Thirunallar temple is one of the Navagraha temples in South India and considered one of the most important Lord Shani temples in the country. The temple attracts millions of devotees every year, especially on Saturdays (considered auspicious to Saturn God).
The Karaikal police said the unauthorised website might have been created years ago. Speaking to TNIE, Karaikal Senior SP Lakshmi Soujanya said, “We have written to the domain registrar to take down the website. Further investigation is on.”