Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan on Tuesday said he would approach the Supreme Court,seeking a probe into the allegation that the royal family of the erstwhile Travancore princely state,which manages the Sree Padmanabhaswami temple here,used to regularly lift from the golden treasure trove at the underground vaults of the temple. The CPM veteran,who had pooh-poohed the findings of the deva prasnam which said opening of the vault B at the temple would be disastrous,had said that senior member of the royal family Uthradam Thirunal Marthanda Varma used to take away gold coins from the temple under the guise of payasam (a sweet dish) after his daily morning darshan. After the recovery of temple wealth,unofficially estimated at Rs 1 lakh crore,the general feeling was that the treasure owed to the honesty of the royal family. The Communist leaders bid to cast a shadow over the integrity of the royal family and question deva prasnam had triggered widespread protest from Hindu organisations and the ruling Congress in Kerala. VS reiterated his stand on Tuesday. While I was the chief minister,many employees had complained to me about the missing of wealth from the temple. Those who had objected to the theft of the property were sacked from temple duty. The administration has the onus to explain why some of the efficient,retired service personnel were removed from temple duty, he said. It was not my opinion. The ex-Armymen deployed for temple security had complained to me. I would bring their allegation to the attention of the Supreme Court,which had ruled that Marthanda Varmas title as king had ceased to exist. The deva prasnam was meant to bypass the Supreme Court directions to prepare the inventory of wealth and threaten the panel appointed by the court, said Achuthanandan. Varma refused to comment,but temple executive officer V K Harikumar said Achuthanandans allegation was baseless. Without the involvement of seven or eight persons,no precious object could be taken out of the temple. A majority of the security guards are affiliated to the CITU. None of them had raised such allegations. Those who had faced disciplinary action might have given wrong information to VS, said Harikumar.
