One pivotal victim was a 30-year-old woman identified only as "Malar" (name changed), the wife of a school teacher living close to the temple. In her statement to the police, Malar described a harrowing ordeal. She alleged that the priest drugged her before raping her inside the temple. To ensure her continued compliance, Devanathan reportedly recorded the act on his phone and used the footage for blackmail, threatening to show it to her husband if she did not continue to have sex with him. He would reportedly visit her house under the guise of asking for milk for a puja—a coded message to meet him at the temple.
However, being a common surname, "Devanathan" does not refer to one single person. There are multiple priests and temple employees with that name across different temples in Tamil Nadu.
: The recordings, which reportedly consisted of 19 files totaling over 90 minutes of footage, were widely circulated on mobile phones and the internet. Arrest and Legal Action
The incident caused significant disturbance within the local religious community. kanchipuram priest devanathan mms scandal free
The incident sparked a massive wave of outrage that has had long-lasting effects on the community and online discourse:
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The court proceedings also involved the priest's bail application, which was withdrawn after the addition of the rape charge since the trial court was not empowered to grant bail for such a serious offense. By December 2009, his judicial remand was extended, and the investigation was transferred to the District Crime Branch. It was not until nine months later, in August 2010, that an eight-page chargesheet was finally filed against him. One pivotal victim was a 30-year-old woman identified
The incident sparked outrage, but also profound anguish. A local activist group, the Kanchi Makkal Mantram, condemned the incident and organized a door-to-door campaign to distribute pamphlets, urging more people to take to the streets and protest. Other residents spoke of their pain. Manoharan, a resident of Siva Kanchi, said, "I have been living in the locality for more than eight years. We believe this temple is very powerful. Many women visit it. I have seen the priest distributing special puja 'prasadham' to young women and girls". The scandal also triggered rumors about the identities of the other women involved, causing further distress.
The video in question, reportedly filmed discreetly on a mobile phone by a devotee or temple insider, allegedly shows Priest Devanathan engaged in an act deemed inappropriate for his sacred office. Depending on the narrative circulating on platforms like Twitter (X), Facebook, and WhatsApp, the infraction ranges from mishandling prasadam (sacred food) and demanding illicit donations to more serious accusations of personal misconduct within the temple precincts. Regardless of the exact act, the power of the video lay not in its quality but in its context. Kanchipuram temples follow the strict Agama shastras —complex ritual codes where every gesture, mantra, and offering has cosmic significance. A visual breach of these codes, captured and looped endlessly, stripped the priest of the protective aura of ritual inaccessibility. Within hours, the video had migrated from local WhatsApp groups to national news debates, amassing millions of views and transforming a local temple issue into a national referendum on priestly conduct.
Victims came forward detailing how Devanathan used spiked temple offerings (such as drugged milk or prasadam ) to incapacitate them. He then used the recorded footage to blackmail them into silence. There are multiple priests and temple employees with
The incident sparked a broader conversation about the accountability of temple authorities and the protection of women in religious spaces. While the police investigated the priest and the technician who circulated the videos, they initially stated they would not target the women involved in the acts, as the focus was on the priest's breach of religious sanctity and potential coercion.
Following the public uproar, Devanathan went into hiding for nearly a month. He eventually surrendered to the on November 16, 2009. The Siva Kanchi Police Department , along with the District Crime Branch (DCB), officially registered several overlapping criminal cases: