Thiruvananthapuram, Sept. 26: Police have got fresh leads pointing to a conspiracy behind Kannada actress Jaimala’s claim that she had sneaked into the Sabarimala shrine and touched the Ayyappa idol in 1987.

Women between puberty and menopause are barred from worshipping at the temple and no one, except the main priest, can enter the deity’s precincts.

The actress’s “disclosure” came after an astrologer, P.U. Panicker, “divined” during a ritual at the temple that a woman had breached its sanctity. The Thazhamon family, which officiates at the temple’s rituals, had seen in this a plot to discredit them.

Now, police sleuths have handed a report to additional director-general (crimes) Jangpangi saying Panicker and Jaimala (in picture) had known each other for sometime. The duo had claimed to have been strangers till Jaimala had called the astrologer a few months ago to admit her folly.

The police say they have evidence that Panicker visited Jaimala’s home in Bangalore in 2004. The investigation has looked into why the Devaswom board drafted Panicker for the ritual without permission from Thazhamon supreme priest Kantararu Maheshwararu.

It has gone into the possible motives for discrediting the family, and how Jaimala or Panicker could have gained from it.