Kattabomman vizha torch carriers being fleeced, say legal heirs

THOOTHUKUDI: Legal heirs of Veerapandiya Kattabomman, the erstwhile king of Panchalankurichi fort, urged the district administration to stop an association from collecting fee from torch carriers of 'Kattabomman Vizha' slated for May 13. The legal heirs, led by V Veemaraja alias Jegaveera Pandia Subramania Kattabomma Durai, submitted a petition to Collector K Senthil Raj during a grievance redressal meeting held on Monday.

Indhumathi, one of the legal heirs, said that Arulmigu Veerasakathevi Alayakulu, an unregistered association, headed by Murugaboopathy, Senthil Kumar, Subburaj Soundar of Panchalakurichi, had been collecting an exorbitant fee from the public for the temple event -  'Jothi Thodar Ottam'. "The collection of the huge amount of money is unnecessary as it is a government-run event and the expense of it is already met by the Public Relations Department," she pointed out. Also, the association members are in no way connected to the direct descendants but only belong to the same caste. They have collected several lakhs per year arbitrarily even as there is no bank account in the name of the temple or the kulu, and had not given proper accounts for the money, she charged. At least 500 people from different villages in the Southern districts participate in the event.

Indhumathi alleged that Murugaboopathy had circulated messages to the youths carrying torches to pay Rs 3,000 per head to get the token. The descendants of the legal heirs - S Veerasakkammal, S Rajmallammal, S Panjalammal, S Raveendran and M Muthukumar - were present. Meanwhile, she also alleged that a silver kavasam weighing 4.5 kg offered to Veerasakathevu Amman in 2014 had gone missing.