There are suspicions that people close to the late monk may have removed his body, but the motive remains unknown.

Meanwhile, disciples continued to visit the temple to pay respect to the highly respected monk, with many expressing hope that his body would be retrieved before the scheduled cremation tomorrow.

A relative of the monk, Ratchanok Chuakhaopim, 41, who had been helping with funeral rites every night since the monk’s passing on January 27, said she was puzzled by what happened because nothing had seemed out of the ordinary at the temple in the past three months.

Although the motive remained unclear, she said she was confident that the disappearance was an “inside job”. She added that she believed the culprits, who could have learned that no one stayed overnight to guard the body, might have removed the body more than a month ago as the pillows in the coffin were covered with frozen dews.

The 79-year-old former abbot’s body was found to be missing on Wednesday when temple staff performed a rite in preparation for a royal-sponsored cremation on Saturday. Staff members opened the coffin and found pillows covered with a monk’s robe in place of Phra Khru Sopon’s body. Staff then alerted police.

The former Phang Khon district chief monk, who was better known as Luang Por Mahayon, passed away from natural causes on January 27 and his body was stored in the refrigerated coffin for Abhidhamma prayer pending the cremation.

No one was known to have opened the coffin since his passing. People could peek into the container, but it would have been impossible to discern that the robe-covered pillows were not the monk’s body.