In the richest Lord’s temple,the gold almighty

Officials,however,said the priest was only a small fry and that there was a larger scam happenning at the Lord Balaji temple — which is in possession of jewellery worth more than Rs 45,000 crore donated by erstwhile rulers and devotees.

With the inventory having not been done since 2005,there are widespread allegations that many gold coins,gold bars and precious ornaments donated by anonymous devoteees are missing from the treasury and large amounts of money misappropriated.

Though an inquiry in July 2008 by the Vigilance Department of TTD resulted in the suspension of several officials,K V Ramanachary,the executive officer of TTD at the time,ensured that the findings of the inquiry were never made public.

“The inventory at the Lord Balaji Temple has not been made since 2005. They all know that things are missing but are not willing to investigate for fear of unearthing a major scandal that would put the TTD and the world famous temple to shame,” G Venu,a retired Vigilance Officer of TTD,says.

Many officials said the TTD was yet to spell out a clear policy to audit cash donations,inventor gold,precious jewels and ornaments received by anonymous donors every year.

However,after a PIL was filed in the Andhra High Court seeking an inventory,the court on August 3 ordered the TTD to start the process and submit a report.

Vigilance officials of the TTD,who have begun inventoring jewellery in over 50 temples,arrested P Ramana Diksitulu on Friday after he admitted to mortgaging two necklaces of the deity of Kodanda Temple in Tirupati.

The priest admitted that he mortgaged the gold necklaces weighing 1.96 kilos in August 2007 to pay for his wife’s treatment and daughter’s marriage.

Officials in the Endowment Department,which manages the state’s temples,said the fact that the ornaments were missing for the two years indicated involvement of others.

Minister for Endowments Gade Venkata Reddy on Sunday too said that involvement of other priests and officials at other temples cannot be ruled out. “It is possible that similar cases have happened at other temples.”

When asked if allegations of missing ornaments donated to Lord Balaji temple were true,he said: “Everything will come out once the inventory is completed.”

Officials said the arrest of the priest at Tirupati has diverted attention from the main temple atop the seven hills. “He is an insignificant person in the entire hierarchy. The powerful officials and head priests are in other bigger temples but they have remained unscathed till now,” an official said.

The TTD’s Vigilance Department and the inventory team have to submit their report on all temples under the TTD by August 27.

Meanwhile,TTD officials on Monday said that they have not been able to recover the ornaments from priest Diksitulu yet. “The priest is being interrogated but he has not said anything yet. His wife indicated that he gave some jewellery to his daughter during her marriage.”