Andhra devotees in Sabarimala flag case return home

The five Andhra Pradesh devotees who were arrested for damaging the new gold-plated Sabarimala mast on June 26th were issued bail and they have now reached AP.

The arrested persons were Dandamudi Naga Laxman Chowdary, Dandamudi Venkat Rao, Satyanarayana Reddy, G. Sudhakar Reddy and Uma Maheswar Reddy, residents of Gandikunta and Peda Ogirala in Krishna district.

Penamaluru MLA Bode Prasad upon hearing of the incident took up the matter with Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu. Krishna district collector B. Lakshmi Kantam and DGP N. Sambasivarao looked into the issue on the directions of the CM.

Bode Prasad had been pursuing the matter since the arrest of the devotees. He said that those arrested on charges of conspiracy by the Kerala police were ardent devotees of Ayyappa and had been visiting the temple for the past 15 to 20 years.

It is a common practice in Andhra Pradesh to offer ‘Nava Dhanyalu’ (Nine different grains) and ‘Pancha Lohalu’ (five metals) during installation of the mast in temples. However, these offerings are done during the time of installation, and the grains and metals are placed in the foundation pit.

By the time these five persons reached the temple, the installation of the mast was completed and so they placed the metals and grains at the base of the golden mast. One of the metals was mercury and it has caused a chemical reaction with the gold. Mr Prasad said they have not done anything with the intention to cause damage.

The devotees reached AP after their release from jail and proclaimed their immense gratitude to Bode Prasad for taking the initiative and bringing them out of jail.

Bode Prasad gave the credit of the whole issue to CM Chandrababu and Minister Lokesh for their initiative and responsibility.

• Sabarimala Dwajastambham
• Sabarimala flagmast
• Sabarimala
• Andhra devotees
• Bode Siva Prasad