Bengaluru, A day after the shocking triple-murder case involving priests in Mandya, Muzarai (Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowment) minister, Srinivasa Poojari on Saturday said the Karnataka Government will take steps to open temple hundis (collection boxes) once a month to avoid such tragedies.

Speaking to reporters after handing-over the Rs 5 lakh ex-gratia cheque to family members of the deceased in Mandya, Poojari directed Deputy Commissioner Rohini Sindhuri to take steps to repair dysfunctional CCTV cameras inside and outside temple premises.

At present, the Muzarai department opens the Hundis once in three months and collect the accumulated cash offerings. But in the case of Arkeshwara temple, located on the outskirts of Mandya city, the Hundi hadn't been opened for the last 10 months. As a result the 'hundi' contained a huge cash collection.

According to the police, the hundis are opened especially in presence of Muzarai deparment's assistant commissioner which is a must for an "A" category temple while a Tehsildar's presence is required in "B" category temples.

"Since March, the entire state has been in the grip of the pandemic. In particular, it was Mysuru which was affected most adversely. As a result entire government machinery was completely busy with tackling the pandemic. With the district administration's priorities changed. Hence the hundi collection was not taken out. The assailants must have sensed this and decamped with the hundi cash by killing three priests," an officer added.

The officer added that the irony of the deceased priests is that they get a chance to be priests for two-days in a year. "The Arkeshwara temple has a custom that a family which performs the first pooja is only entitled to carry out pooja in this temple. Over the centuries the family has grown to such an extent, each of the family members get only two or three days in a year to be the priests of this temple," the source explained.

Meanwhile, speaking to IANS, Superintendent of Police, K. Parshuram said that the police has formed special teams AAto probe into the murder and circumstantial evidence indicates that it was murder for gain. A"Based on our clues we are tracking a nomadic gang, we have kept close watch on the movements, I am hopeful that culprits will be nabbed soon," he added.