Puri, May 11: The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) suspended senior servitor of Puri Jagannath Temple, Ramakrushna Dasmohapatra, on the charges of "damaging dignity and glory of the shrine".

The SJTA had served two notices to Ramkrushna Dasmohaptra. In the first notice issued on May 4, 2025, Dasmohapatra was asked to submit a reply as to why he made a 'denigrating' statement after participating in Digha Jagannath Temple. Dasmohaptra had said leftover logs of Puri's Nabakalebar were used to make idols of the Digha temple.

The second notice was served on Ramakrushna Dasmohapatra on May 9, 2025. He was asked to inform the SJTA under what circumstances he participated in the consecration of Digha Jagannath Temple when authorities named the temple as "Jagannath Dham- Digha." While Jagannath Dham is a unique status of Puri Shreemandir, the SJTA wanted to know if he, being a very senior servitor, had opposed the term 'Dham'.

On completion of the notice term of seven days, the SJTA didn't get any satisfactory reply from Dasmohapatra. Thus, the SJTA suspended Dasmohapatra for 30 days with strictures that he would not participate in activity related to Shreemandir during the suspension period.

Dasmohaptra has also been asked not to influence other servitors or make any statement that would hurt the sentiments of devotees of Lord Jagannath. If he violates the stricture, more actions like extension suspension, cut in honorarium and withdrawal of awards will be taken.

Dashmohapatra's statement triggered a hue and cry among devotees, forcing the government to order a probe.

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