As the Amarnath Yatra began, despite the militant attacks and hostile weather conditions, pilgrims alleged that the ice-lingam has been 'artificially and chemically formed'.
The Amarnath Shrine Board, superintending the annual yatra to the Himalayan cave shrine, was unable to offer sufficient explanations for this occurence. It stated that hotter weather receded the glacier expanse and the lingam started forming in the last week of May.
Unsatisfied by the explanation, chief mahant Deependra Giri has asked for a judicial probe headed by a sitting Supreme Court judge to 'fix the responsibility and punish the guilty who ordered fabrication of the ice lingam'.
Image: Deependra Giri at a press confrence in Srinagar on June 19
Photograph: Sajjad Hussain/AFP/Getty Images
Earlier slide show:
A trek to Lord Bholenath's Abode
Amarnath yatra in pictures