The Travancore royal family on Monday came out against an audit report by the former Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai alleging theft of gold valuables from the Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple here.
“Such a huge difference in the figures [regarding the gold valuables] in the report is unbelievable,” said Adithya Varma, a member of the erstwhile royal family that managed the centuries-old shrine earlier. “It has pained us,” he said.
“We were not consulted before the report was prepared. Had we been consulted, this would not have happened,” Mr. Varma told a regional channel here.
‘Wrong figures’The royal family member said old Malayalam numerals were used in the temple records and the “mistakes” might have happened while interpreting the figures.
His reaction came in the wake of reports that the Supreme Court-appointed committee, headed by Mr. Rai, found an ‘abnormal’ increase in expenditure at the temple and gold pots valued at Rs. 186 crore had gone missing. It had recommended constitution of a panel to probe the “irregularities.”
The royal family, in a statement last week, said that the Rai committee submitted the report without seeking any explanation from the temple Executive Officer, Treasurer or those in responsible positions during the period April 2002 to April 2014 or anyone from the royal family.
CBI probe soughtCPI(M) veteran and former Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan had recently sought a CBI probe into the alleged theft.
One of the richest temples in south India, the shrine is now under the administration of a committee appointed by the apex court, where a case related to its management is pending.
The administrative committee is headed by a district and sessions judge.
The Padmanabha Swamy temple shot to fame after treasures worth crores of rupees were found in the secret vaults in its basement four years ago. — PTI
