The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, which administers the temple of Lord Venkateswara known for its vast riches, is facing a plethora of controversies ranging from the charges of corruption, diversion of funds, violation in the performance of rituals and misappropriation of jewellery.
The fact that the allegations are being levelled by former head priest of the hill temple AV Ramana Deekshitulu has taken both the management and the pilgrim fraternity by storm.
Not only the 20,000-odd strong work force of the TTD but also the multitude of followers of Lord Venkateswara spread all across the planet remain confused with both Mr. Deekshitulu and the temple administration trading charges and denials.
Mr. Deekshitulu, who initially confined himself to the charges of corruption, violations in the performance of rituals and harassment/interference by the temple authorities later raised diversion of funds and siphoning off the temple jewellery. The situation worsened when Mr. Deekshitulu alleged that the pink diamond akin to the one adorned to the deity was auctioned in Geneva recently for a sum running into hundreds of crores.
Perturbed at the gravity of the allegations, TTD Executive officer Anil kumar Singhal jumped into action and clarified that the entire volume of jewellery of the Lord was safe and brushed aside any chances of misappropriation. He also clarified that the precious stone said to have broken during the Garuda seva in 2001 was not pink diamond but a pink ruby the pieces of which were in the safe custody of the peishkar as authenticated by Justice Jagannadha Rao in his report.
Former Executive Officer IYR Krishna Rao in his report submitted to the government in 2010 also mentioned that the broken piece was a ruby. He also said the jewel was donated by the Maharaja of Mysore in 1945 and the price was pegged at ₹45 at that time.
Even in the past when there was a similar public outcry with regard to the missing of some antique ornaments from the temple treasury, the government had constituted a six-member committee led by Justice Wadhwa, a retired judge of the Supreme Court, who in his 187-page report submitted to the then Chairman of the TTD’s specified Authority J. Sathyanarayana in 2011 said all ornaments were intact and in order.
Justice Wadhwa had also stated that during the year-long verification of the jewels conducted in phases, the panel cross-checked the ornaments and their historical background with some standard publications brought out by the Tirumala temple and was convinced that all the ornaments matched the inventory books being maintained by the TTD since 1933.
The panel also made a random check of the ornaments of the Tiruchanoor temple and had recommended upgrading of the internal security at the temple besides suggesting a periodical verification of the ornaments.
The panel is believed to have taken the unsavoury incident wherein another head priest working at the temple of Lord Kodanda Rama Swamy at Tirupati, driven by abject poverty, had mortgaged 10 pieces of gold and diamond jewellery belonging to the deity with a local pawn broker for ₹10.15 lakh in 2009 in suggesting the periodical verification.
Though the TTD had survived several scams like the multi-crore arjitha seva tickets scam, rental and gas spare parts scam, irregularities in the purchase of ingredients required in the making of prasadams, shaving blades at kalyanakatta and several others never did it find itself so embattled with the issue gradually acquiring political dimensions so much so that Chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had to intervene and appeal to the Opposition parties to maintain restraint and not to malign the image of the institution.
With Mr. Deekshitulu himself demanding a CBI enquiry into the entire episode and meeting senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy who reportedly expressed his readiness for filing a PIL in the Supreme Court, it remains to be seen how the TTD would wriggle out of the volatile issue.
