Priests, Video and Dhoka !
BANGALORE, Apr 8 (TOI): A ‘seer’ in a ‘compromising’ position and a video — a perfect recipe to tarnish his image. That’s what a few disgruntled priests attempted, landing some of them in deep trouble.
Probably taking a cue from the Swami Nityananda sex scandal, 14 priests of the famous Gokarna temple hatched a conspiracy to tarnish the image of the pontiff of Ramachandrapura Mutt. They found a look-alike of the Ramachandrapura Mutt pontiff, Sri Raghaveshwara Bharati Swami, dressed him up like the seer and shot photos and a video of him petting a calf. Later, they morphed the images by replacing the calf with a top Bollywood actress. But before they could put the videos and photos in the public domain, the police swooped down upon them.
The police have seized a computer containing 735 pornographic movies and 37 software packages from the home of Gajanana Upadhyaya, one of the main accused in the case.
The accused were unhappy with the government handing over the famous Gokarna temple (Lord Mahabaleshwara temple) to the Ramachandrapura Mutt. They thought that defaming the pontiff would spark public anger and the temple administration would be handed back to the local trust. Five persons are behind bars, while a hunt is on for the remaining nine conspirators. The seizures made by police have revealed that the priests had more than 100 pornographic videos, some of which were shot in Kerala.
After assuming charge in May 2008, BJP government handed over the Lord Mahabaleshwara temple at Gokarna to the Ramachandrapura Mutt in Shimoga district, attracting criticism from priests and the opposition parties. The priests were unhappy because the decision curtailed their earnings. The government, citing historical reasons, said it was done to ensure proper administration.