The Kerala government on Friday decided to order a police inquiry into Kannada actress Jayamala's claim that she had entered the sanctum sanctorum of the Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala where women in the 10-50 age group are not allowed.

The decision to assign the probe to the crime branch was taken on a request from the Travancore Devaswom Board, which administers major temples in south Kerala, including the hill shrine of Sabarimala, according to official sources in Thiruvananthapuram.

Jayamala's claim has sparked a row with the temple traditions requiring performance of elaborate purificatory rituals in the event of her claim proving to be true.

The actress had said she made the trip to the shrine in 1987 with her husband to fulfil a vow. There was heavy rush and she was forced into the sanctum sanctorum by the crowd after which she touched the idol of Lord Ayyappa.

The actress' revelation came close on the heels of the recent 'deva prasnam' --- an astrological examination of the state of affairs of the temple -- which had reportedly found certain inauspicious things in the way the affairs of the temple were conducted.