The Superintendent of Police here on Monday filed a report to the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration chief Suresh Mohapatra on his probe into an incident of climbing on the chariot of lord Jagannath before the Pahandi ceremony at the Gundicha temple by a lady devotee.
There was legal taboo on climbing of devotees on chariots during the Rath Yatra and hence, the incident had sparked off a row.
Earlier, on the basis of CCTV footage showing a lady devotee being escorted by a Sevayat to the Nandighosh Rath before the Pahandi at the Gundicha temple, Mohapatra had asked SP Asish Kumar Singh to conduct an inquiry into the incident and ascertain the identity of the lady.
Following a hue and cry over the incident, Mohapatra had suspended the sevayat escorting the lady, while at the same time he had issued show-cause notice to lord Jagannath's Badagrahi Jagannath Swain Mohapatra. Swain Mohapatra is the body protector of lord Jagannath and was supposed to keep an eye over the goings-on on the chariot during the Rath Yatra.
SP Singh said to mediapersons that the lady devotee belongs to a local businessman's family. He, however, refused to reveal her name. This apart, the SP informed that sevayat Kalijuga Artatran Pratihari was examined and it was found that he had knowingly escorted her to the Rath and gave her Tulsi and then led her to get down from it.
Singh said no legal action was initiated against the persons as the temple administration had asked him to investigate the incident only. No complaint had been filed with the police in this regard, Singh revealed.
Meanwhile, a three-member auditor team of the CAG has from Monday begun auditing the accounts of the Shree Jagannath Temple. They were to audit all income and expenditure of the temple from 2004-05 to 2014-15, said sources.