Udupi’s phantom menace writes Sanskrit, gossip

According to Perdoor Mandal Panchayat’s former president Shantaram Sura, the letters contain many vulgar Sanskrit sayings and are infested with abusive language. And they always surface en-masse at a particular time of the year.

‘‘During the village’s biggest festival, the Perdoor Ananthapadmanabha temple celebrations (March-April), letters containing malicious gossip about certain families reach almost all the 500-odd families in the village,’’ Sura said.

Peppered with information on illicit affairs, the letters have even driven some people to suicide, said Sura.

Bangalore-based entrepreneur Sadananda, who was informed about the ‘nuisance’ during a visit to his native village, collected about 500 such slanderous letters and handed it over to Udupi District Superintendent of Police Amrit Paul, two months ago.

Paul confirmed that a complaint had been registered and the case handed over to the District Crime Investigation Bureau (DCIB).