Dead snakelet found in Hosur temple prasad

KRISHNAGIRI: Devotees found a dead snakelet in the 'puliyodharai' prasad distributed to them at the Chandra Choodeswarar Temple in Hosur in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday. The Chandra Choodeswarar Temple, perched on a hill at Therpettai in Hosur, is managed by the Hindu religious and charitable endowment (HR&CE) department. On Tuesday, C Madanika of Bommasandra in Bengaluru visited the temple with her friend Jayalakshmi and had a darshan of the deity. After the darshan, she got tamarind rice as prasad. She was horrified to find a snakelet in the prasad. “At first, I thought it was a worm,” she told TOI, noting that her friend later clarified that it was a dead snakelet.Madanika filed a complaint with the temple executive officer M Samidurai. Samidurai said, “We hold an annual tender for the supply of temple prasad. This year, for the fifth consecutive time, Vasudevan of Trichy was given the tender for Rs 5 lakh. Following the complaint from the devotee about the dead snakelet in the prasad, we disposed of all the prasad. We are investigating.”Hosur food safety officer (FSO) Muthu Mariappan visited the kitchen and observed that the facility was in a poor state of hygiene. He noted that the kitchen staffers were not wearing gloves and disposable caps to prevent hair from falling into the food.“We will issue a show-cause notice to Vasudevan on Wednesday seeking an explanation for the lack of hygiene in the kitchen," the FSO stated, emphasizing that stringent measures would be taken if he did not provide a satisfactory response.