Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 1 (IANS): For the second day in succession, Kerala Devaswom Minister K. Radhakrishnan has denied the claims of Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar that a ritual involving animal sacrifice (black magic) took place in a temple to "bring trouble to the Congress government".

“By now, we have made a detailed probe on this. There has been no information about such a thing happening in the named temple or its neighbourhood. Our probe will continue but we are sure that this cannot happen as we have a law in place since 1968 on the ban of animal sacrifice. We are at a loss as to why he (Shivakumar) has raised such an allegation,” said Radhakrishnan while speaking to the media on Saturday.

The agencies that have conducted the probe include Kerala Police Intelligence, the Devasom Boards and the local temple officials at a few places in Kannur, he said.

On Thursday, Shivakumar said that his political detractors are conducting a 'Shatru Bhairavi Yaga', a ritual involving animal sacrifice, in the Raja Rajeshwari temple in Kerala, to bring trouble to the Congress government in Karnataka.

He told the media in Bengaluru that he had the information that "21 red goats, three buffaloes, 21 black sheep and five pigs were being sacrificed for this black magic".

After drawing flak, the Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister later said that he had not mentioned the name of any temple.

The ruling CPI(M) and its leadership slammed Shivakumar for airing such a baseless allegation.