Priests stopped from taking food ingredients atop Thiruparankundram hill

MADURAI: The City police on Thursday prevented the aathars (priests/caretakers) of the Sikandar Avuliya Dargah from taking cooking ingredients to the dargah atop Thiruparankundram Hill, citing a court order.

The Sikandar Avuliya Dargah is located atop Thiruparankundram Hill. The aathars (priests/caretakers) staying at the dargah are changed once every seven days, police said.

As part of this arrangement, Atthar Abbas, who is on duty this week, and his family members attempted to take ingredients to prepare tomato rice, along with garlic, onion and an electric stove, up the hill on Thursday morning to cook food there, police said.

However, police personnel deployed along the pathway to the hill stopped them from taking such items to the top, which resulted in a heated argument. The police said that only ready-to-eat food items could be taken to the hill.

Outraged by this, mosque representatives alleged that the authorities were repeatedly denying the worship rights of Muslims. They also said they would hand over the key of the dargah at the police station, police said.

Following discussions between Tirupparankundram Inspector Senthil Kumar and the mosque representatives, the staff proceeded to the Sikandar Avuliya Dargah with ready-to-eat items