The group in its letter to the monarch issued yesterday said the King was their last hope to try to end the “unlawful” bid to prosecute Phra Dhammachayo.

“The police operation on the issue could possibly lead to violence on people who are mostly women and elderly,” read the letter. It was unclear last night if the letter had been submitted.

The move came as police stepped up pressure in an attempt to arrest Dhammachayo, who founded the huge temple in Pathum Thani.

Phra Maha Nopporn Punyachaiyo, deputy director of communications at the temple, said it was not involved in the move to submit the petition to the King. He said the temple would cooperate with officers in regard to a search warrant, but could not say if any disciple would try to block officers who may try to arrest the monk, as before.

A commando team of over 100 police from the Crime Suppression Division (CSD) was now on standby around the clock to join the operation upon request, acting CSD commander Pol Maj General Suthin Sappoung said. Patrol and special operation division 191 chief Pol Maj General Surachet Hakpan said the “Arintaraj 26” commando unit, plus the K-9 police dog and bomb squad were ready to join the operation.

Their comments were made while DSI and police met late yesterday to discuss preparedness for an operation to arrest Dhammachayo. The monk is wanted on charges of money laundering and receiving stolen assets from the huge embezzlement scandal at Klongchan Credit Union Cooperatives.

The meeting, which lasted almost four hours, reached no conclusion about the operation and officers set December 12 for another round of talks, according to deputy national police chief Pol General Srivara Ransibrahmanakul.

PM’s Office Minister Suwaphan Tanyuvadhana said he had told the National Office of Buddhism to cooperate with the DSI. He also commented on the Pathum Thani chief monk’s order on Thursday to remove Dhammachayo as abbot and make him an honorary abbot at the temple. The order also got Phra Withetpavabajarn, 65, to serve as acting abbot. Asked if the change would make it easier for officers seeking to arrest the monk, Suwapan said this was a monastic administrative matter and had nothing to do with the case.

Suwapan also revealed that the probe ordered by the chief of the Monastic Administrative Region 1 into Phra Dhammachayo was still ongoing. Deputy PM Wissanu Krea-Ngam said the honorary abbot appointment was as a normal move undertaken if an abbot could not perform his duty due to sickness or disability. He said it was possible to appoint an acting abbot to serve on behalf of an existing abbot who was not at the temple at a certain time.

But Kajornsak Putthanuphab, executive director at the Attorney-General’s investigation office 3, said these moves were an attempt by monastic administrators to show they had not ignored the case. He said it would not affect the prosecution, as Dhammachayo was still a wanted man in the KCUC case and officers must arrest him.

A source at the DSI said the post of honorary abbot was done out of respect and had no legal status nor temple administrative power and, without a proper resignation and notification to Tambon monastic administrators, an abbot or acting abbot could not avoid their legal accountability. The acting abbot shift took place amid confusion over who served in such posts, following a complaint by police that the temple’s acting abbot was harbouring a fugitive.

Besides the criminal charges Dhammachayo has to face in the worldly realm, his alleged defiance of monastic administrators’ order for him to enter the justice process and avoid teachings that allegedly stray from Buddhism should be brought to the Sangha Council Court, the source said.

Police and local officials yesterday inspected the area around the temple and routes including a bridge over an irrigation canal leading to the temple, which was reportedly blocked despite being a public path. Officials said they would ask the temple to remove all obstacles for the search.