Chief monk defrocked for carousing at karaoke parlour

A chief monk at Tha Utane district of Nakhon Phanom province had been defrocked for visiting a Karaoke club in Mukdaharn province in civilian clothes.

The chief monk was identified as Phra Maha Samai Sithichayo, the chief monk at Tha Utane district.

According to Mukdaharn police, they inspected a karaoke parlour last Friday night on a routine inspection of night entertainment venues, and came across a visitor inside the parlour.

The man resembled a chief monk in Tha Utane district who a police officer in the payrol team was familiar with.

The officer then took his picture and sent it to his police colleagues at Tha Utane to confirm.

They later confirmed the man was actually the chief monk at Tha Utane district identified as Phra Maha Samai Sithichayo.

The chief monk was later escorted to Wat Sribunruang temple and defrocked by senior monk on the same night.

Interviews with local residents by Thai PBS in Tha Utane showed most of them didn’t believe the chief monk visited the Karaoke parlour reasoning he was a social worker and developer who never had such inappropriate behaviour.

But a novice who had close association with the chief monk said on Friday night he was called to accompany the chief monk to Mukdaharn.

The chief monk didn’t tell him what he would be doing there, saying only that his brother would arrive at 8.00pm to pick them up to Mukdaharn.

The chief monk was dropped at a petrol station in Mukdaharn, he said.

He added that it was until in the morning when he heard that the chief monk was caught at a karaoke parlour and was defrocked.