Sabarimala temple opens amid tight security
Sabarimala (Kerala), Nov 16: The Sabarimala temple opened Friday evening for the two-month long pilgrim season amid tight security in the backdrop of the standoff over the entry of women in menstrual age.
As the shrine opened at 5 pm in the presence of head priest Kandararu Rajeevaru, the large number of devotees present there chanted "Swamiye Ayyappa".
Two new melsanthis (priests) M L Vasudevan Namboodiri (Ayyappa temple) and M N Narayanan Namboodiri (Malikappuram) assumed charge.
The 41-day mandalam festival will conclude on December 27 after Mandala pooja, when the shrine will close after the 'Athazha Pooja' in the evening. It would reopen for the Makaravilakku festival on December 30.
The Makaravilakku festival would be celebrated on January 14 after which the shrine will close on January 20, marking the culmination of the pilgrim season, when lakhs of devotees are expected to throng the shrine.
Unprecedented security arrangements have been made at the shrine which is opening for the third time since the Supreme Court allowed women of all age groups to offer prayers, a move being opposed by devotees and others.
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7 held for running fake call centre in South Kolkata
Kolkata (PTI): Seven people were arrested from the Parnashree area in the southern part of the city for allegedly running a fake call centre, a police officer said on Saturday.
Acting on a tip-off, police raided a house on Netaji Subhas Road on Friday night and found the fake call centre operating from the ground floor, he said.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the accused had set up a bogus company using forged documents and posed as employees of an antivirus firm to call citizens in the US, the officer said.
"The callers would gain the trust of victims and then use remote access to take control of their phones or other digital devices. The accused allegedly siphoned off large sums of money, running into millions of dollars, from victims' accounts," he said.
Five laptops, two WiFi routers, six mobile phones and four headsets were seized from the accused, he said, adding that the seven are being questioned to ascertain the full extent of the racket and to identify others involved.
