The Odisha government today posted a senior IPS officer on special duty to probe the alleged mismanagement in Nabakalebar festival, while the temple administration urged the Crime Branch to take forward the investigation concerning leak of secret ritual pictures on social media.
"We have urged the Additional Director General, Crime Branch, to probe into the pictures/video in circulation on the social media in the name of Lord Jagannath's Brahma (soul), burial of old idols and some other secret rituals," Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) said in a statement.
The SJTA's move came after certain "objectionable" and "misguiding" pictures and video were found on social media including Facebook, said SJTA chief administrator Suresh Chandra Mohapatra.
"The photos showing the Pataali (burial) of the old idols in the Koili Baikuntha (divine graveyard) and carving of new idols inside the temple, widely circulated in the social media, are irrelevant and have no veracity and authenticity," Mohapatra said, adding the Crime Branch has been requested to consider the SJTA's letter as an FIR.
Rejecting materials posted on social media as Lord Jagannath's secret ritual, he said, "The picture shown as of Brahma on the social media is actually a picture of a 'Matshya Salagram' posted by one Himansu Singhal in YouTube in October 2011. It is not Lord Jagannath's Brahma as claimed."
He said SJTA hopes a proper investigation by cyber crime experts could catch the culprits indulged in misleading people and also urged people not to be misguided by such pictures.
