Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) Chief Administrator Suresh Chandra Mohapatra on Friday asked the District Magistrate and the Superintendent of Police of Puri to investigate into the climbing of a woman, allegedly escorted by a temple servitor, onto the Nandighosh Rath before the Pahandi of the deities on the Monday at the Gundicha temple.
The temple administration suspended servitor Kalijuga Artatran Pratihari, while it issued a notice to Jagannath Swain Mahapatra, the Badagrahi Daitapati of lord Jagannath, who was present on the Rath during the incident.
After getting reports from these officials, legal opinion would be sought from the Government advocate as to what legal steps could be taken against the offenders as per the IPC, informed temple PRO laxmidhar Pujapanda.
Meanwhile, the cleansing of moss from the Garbhagruha roofs and walls was in progress while the ongoing repairs to the two doors, Jai Vijay and Kalahat, were almost complete. The installation of cooling system in the Garbhagruha would be completed before July 29, the PRO said. This apart, the PHD engineers were working to solve water scarcity problem in the temple kitchen.
The chariot Nandighosh of lord Jagannath was pulled from its arrival gate giving a south turn on the Friday and parked at the exit gate (Nakachana Dwar) of the Gundicha temple facing the main temple.
Earlier, on the Thursday, the two chariots of Devi Subhadra and Balabhadra were pulled and placed in front of the exit gate as part of preparations for the return journey of the deities called Bahuda Yatra, scheduled for Sunday. The famous Sandhya Darshan on Saturday would continue till 7 pm, said a temple release. In another development, the SJTA chief on Friday sent a letter to the ASI DG asking to take steps for long term repair and preservation of the Jagamohan.