2 detained in prasada poisoning case

The police have detained two women in connection with the death of two women and hospitalisation of several others after eating prasada at the Gangamma temple in Chintamani, Chikkaballapur district on Friday.

The Chintamani police detained Lakshmi and Amaravathi, who are believed to have prepared the prasada at home and distributed it to devotees at the temple.

Police said the samples of the prasada had been sent to the forensic science laboratory in Bengaluru for testing.

Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy has collected information from Deputy Commissioner Anirudh Shravan about those admitted to the hospital and had directed that their medical expenses be borne by the government.

According to the police, around 2,000 people attended Friday night’s puja from 6 pm to 9 pm at the temple. Preliminary inquiry revealed that the kesari bath prasada was distributed to around 500 devotees.

The police visited the temple and questioned the priests, who said that the kesari bath was not prepared at the temple, but was brought from outside by devotees who had taken a vow.