Kottayam, Kerala, Dec 14 : Kerala police today filed a chargesheet against Kannada film actress Jayamala and two others in the case relating to her claim that she had touched the idol of Lord Ayyappa at Sabarimala temple in her prime youth in violation of the hillshrine's custom which bars entry for women in 10-50 age group.
Astrologer Parappanangadi Unnikrishnan and his Bangalore-based aid Raghupathy had been listed as the first two accused in the case for allegedly indulging in a deliberate and malicious act to outrage religious sentiments.
The chargesheet was filed in the first class judicial magistrate court at Ranni in Pathanamthitta district.
The 'revelation' of the actress in June 2006 triggered a raging storm and the crime branch probe found that it was the result of a conspiracy hatched by the astrologer and his aide.
The chargesheet, filed in the first class judicial magistrate court at Ranni in Pathanamthitta district, said the accused were involved in a deliberate and malicious act intented to outraged religious feelings under section 295 of Indian Penal Code.
Jaimala figured as the third accused.
It was in 2006 June that Jayamala dropped a bombshell saying she had, in her prime of youth, entered the sanctum sanctorum of the hillshrine and even touched the idol of the presiding deity, defying the ban on women of 10-50 age to worship in the temple.
She had faxed her claim to the devaswom office when an astrological examination of the conduct of the temple affairs, known in local parlance as "deva prasnam", was on under the lead of Unnikrishnan.
The astrologer had claimed then that the poojas and rituals of the shrine had not been performed with due sanctity and dedication by priests there were even signs of the idol having touched by a woman.
It was after this Jayamala made the claim that she had visited the temple when she was just 18 and she wanted to do penance for that.
With the incident raising a storm, the government ordered a crime branch probe.
The inquiry,as part of which the actress was questioned in Bangalore, concluded that her claim of having tossed into the idol chamber of the shrine by rushing devotees appeared most illogical and implausible.
According to the investigators, the whole episode appeared tbe the result of a conspiracy to buttress the claim of the astrologer of the poor state of temple affairs. PTI
