ALAPPUZHA: A controversy has erupted over the appointment of Kesavan Namboodiri as the head priest of the Ambalappuzha Sreekrishnaswamy temple.
The devotees have protested against his appointment as he has been facing an investigation into the missing of the pendant from the temple in April this year. Namoodiri is the head priest of the Kannamangalam family which enjoys Karazhma (hereditary rights).
The Travancore Devaswom Board appointed him as head priest on the basis of the recommendation made by the senior priest of the family. After the TDB suspended the official head priest Baburaj Namboodiri, another member of the family, for lapses in safekeeping the ornaments at the temple, the senior priest had approached the High Court which upheld their right.
However, the devotees have demanded that the family should appoint a clean person from the family as head priest.
The Special Temple Anti-Theft Squad is looking into the case of the missing pendant as per the High Court orders on September 15 after D. Subhash, a member, Karma Samithi, a devotee outfit, filed a petition.
Mr R. Sankaran Nair, chairman, Karma Samithy, said that Kesavan Namboodiri was the last person who handled the ornaments before they disappeared. “We will raise this issue before the court and will not recognise him as priest till the investigation is over,” he said.
Assistant commissioner S. Regunathan Nair had said in a letter that Kesavan Namboodiri, who was then helping head priest Baburaj, had given the ornaments to deck up the deity during the Vishu festival.
Mr Subhash said that the local police, who had questioned Kesavan Namboodiri, had not cleared him of the charges.
The family does not have qualified priests to keep its rights intact. Young family member Yedhukrishnan Namboodiri, who is an engineer, was not interested to take up the traditional job.
