Thiruvananthapuram, July 25: The Kerala government has asked the state intelligence chief to submit a report on the scandal involving the main priest at the Sabarimala hill shrine.

Home minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said today he would not comment on allegations that Kantararu Mohanararu (PTI picture) had been visiting a prostitute, adding that it was a complaint by the priest himself that brought the police into the picture.

“I’ll not say anything further now but all those connected with the temple have a responsibility to uphold its sanctity,” he said.

The police in Kochi have now changed tack and are no longer dismissing as completely false the priest’s complaint that a gang had assaulted and robbed him and forced him to pose with a nude woman.

Officers are unofficially saying there is a case of assault and all six members of the gang who attacked him will be caught in the next two days.

Policemen have been posted at the flat where the priest was allegedly held in wrongful confinement by the gang.

Mohanararu, who filed a revised complaint and made himself available for questioning, said he had gone to the flat in search of a domestic help. He added that his abductors had removed his gold ornaments worth 40 sovereigns.

But he insisted the sleaze charge is “part of a conspiracy to tarnish me, my family and the temple”.

The Travancore Devaswom Board that manages the temple today communicated to the priest its decision to sack him. Mohanararu questioned the decision, saying it does not have the power, and insisted he would perform the monthly puja on August 9.

Legal circles are divided on the board’s powers to remove the priest.

Advocate A.D. Krishnanasan, son of former Sabarimala priest Kantararu Sankararu, said: “If the board had any complaint, it should apprise the supreme priest and seek redress.” But Govind Bharathan, another advocate, said the board, being the representative of the faithful, could sack the priest but did not have the authority to dispense with the family rights to priestly duties.