Suspension of 3 Puri temple servitors revoked

Bhubaneswar: Unfazed by the public outcry over delay in declaration of the reason behind 'Bramha Paribartan' (soul transfer) disruption during last year's Nabakalebara, the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration in Puri on Sunday lifted the suspensions of two servitors, who were blamed for the fiasco.
"We have lifted the suspensions of Jay Krushna Dasmohapatra and his father Kasinath till our final inquiry report into the circumstances leading to the Bramha Paribartan fiasco is out," Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) chief administrator Suresh Mohapatra told TOI.The development came a day before Debasnan Purnima ritual on Monday. The dieties of the temple are given a ceremonial bath as part of the ritual. It is a key ritual ahead of Rath Yatra, scheduled to start on July 6.
Significantly, the father-son duo had earlier threatened to sit on a hunger strike if their suspensions were not revoked before the annual car festival. The SJTA had on June 24, 2015 suspended the father-son duo for allegedly disrupting the key ritual of Nabakalebara, which sparked statewide public protests.
Though Nabakalebara's Bramha Paribartan, which involved the creation of new idols of deities and transfer of souls from the old idols to the new, was scheduled to be held in the dead of night before June 16, 2015 dawn, it was performed on June 16 afternoon, sparking serious resentment among people and political parties here.
"When the four Daitapati priests, who were assigned to perform Brahma Paribartan, were about to enter a closed room in the temple to conduct the ritual, Jay Krushna demanded that his father Kasinath be allowed to accompany them. Haladhar Dasmohapatra, who performed Bramha Paribartan of Balabhadra, strongly opposed it. Jay picked up a quarrel with him and attempted to storm into the secret room with his father. He misbehaved with other priests," said a temple officer. Jay Krushna said he is happy over the SJTA's decision. "In a belated move, the shrine body lifted my and my father's suspensions. We were falsely implicated in the case," said Jay, who was the Puri district president of Biju Yuva Janata Dal, the youth brigade of ruling BJD.
The shrine body also lifted the suspension of Artatran Pratihari, another priest, who had on July 20, 2015 allegedly allowed a woman to climb onto the chariot of Lord Jagannath, in violation of a rule, which prohibits access of common devotees on chariots.