A silver crown weighing about 5 kgs, 2 gold rings and 2 gold necklaces were reported missing from the high-security treasury of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD). As per reports, though the items were reported missing in 2017, the theft has come to light after a former TTD board member released some documents related to the audit recently.
As per reports, BJP Andhra Pradesh’s secretary G Bhanu Prakash Reddy informed the media that the said crown, which was offered by a devotee in 2002, and the gold ornaments have been missing from the treasury since 2017. Reddy alleged that there is a scam undergoing in the richest temple of the world and wondered how valuable ornaments went missing amid such high security.
Reddy demanded that the TTD should take action against former Assistant Executive Officer M Srnivasulu and recover the entire amount of the ornaments from him.
Later, TTD Executive Officer Anil Kumar Singhal confirmed the allegations and stated that the said crown and the gold ornaments were indeed found missing from the treasury in 2017. The combined worth of the articles was said to be around 7 lakh.
Singhal informed that a sum of Rs 25,000 was deducted from the salary of the concerned treasury official who was in charge of the treasury when the shortage was noticed.
Upon the request of the penalised officer who had claimed innocence, the TTD officials had reportedly examined all the gold and silver ornaments and had found that there were more ornaments presents than were listed in documents.
Singhal has informed that steps are being taken to enhance security systems and make the storage and inventory systems flawless.
Earlier this year, 3 diamond-studded crowns from the Govindaraja Swami temple were stolen. The 12th-century ornaments, belonging to sub-temple gods Mylappa, Sridevi and Bhoodevi were allegedly stolen during the evening prasad offerings. The police had later seized molten gold from the crowns weighing around 1.3 kgs. The persons involved were arrested too.