The District Police in Tiruvannamalai intensified checks on sadhus and saints, who stay on the 14 km-long Girivalam path near Arunachaleswara temple in Tiruvannamalai town on Saturday for possession of banned substances like ganja and gutka.

Saturday’s drive comes after Tiruvannamalai West police arrested three persons in town for possession of two kilograms of ganja. The police said the gang was reportedly selling ganja to sadhus and visitors in the temple town. Following the arrest and seizure of banned substances, the police launched massive checks in town.

At present, the town has around 300 sadhus who stay mainly in the area between Chengam Road and Abayapuram, a distance of around 10 kms, on Girivalam path. Most of them are from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka. They stay in free shelters provided by NGOs and the temple.

When COVID-19 pandemic restrictions were in place, most of them were deprived of proper accommodation and food and they stayed on the pavement along Girivalam path.

Earlier, the District Police took fingerprints and photographs of sadhus in town to have a database for security purposes. The fingerprints were sent to National Automated Fingerprints Identification System (NAFIS), which is maintained by New Delhi-based Central Fingerprint Bureau (CFPB) to ascertain if any sadhus had criminal records.

Other personal details of sadhus like name, age, and place of birth were also recorded. A plan to issue a unique identity card with QR code to registered sadhus was also made. Police sources said that since then, no efforts have been made to update the database or to conduct frequent checks.