NIRMAL: It seems that the suspension of main priest P Sanjeev Kumar of Basara Gnana Saraswathi Devi temple on the charge of taking the idol of the deity to a private school in Devarakonda in Nalgonda to perform Akshara Abhyasam, has some political genesis. The main priest is a supporter of BJP and takes part in the party activities after duty hours.
Sources said TRS was waiting for an opportunity to corner him and the idol missing case has come as a boon. As soon as the local TRS leaders came to know about the incident they exerted pressure on the officials to suspend him. Two other priests were also suspended to appear as if he was not being targetted. It is learnt that all public outcry and protests were engineered by local TRS leaders to defame the priest.
Though an enquiry officer was appointed, he has not yet visited the temple. Temple authorities broke open the main priest’s locker and recovered the idol on Monday. The incident, however, came to light after video of the event, posted on social media, went viral. Temple authorities served a notice to main priest and are probing why he shifted deity to a private school. A case was also registered against the priest.
Another temple staffer suspended
A day after “missing” idol was traced, officials cracked the whip on another temple staffer. Temple Paryandar Vishwajeeth Sharma too was suspended apart from the main priest P Sanjeev Kumar and another Saptasi Paryandar, K Pranav Sharma