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The Gold plates (Pidam) stolen from the statue of the gatekeepers of the Sabarimala temple in Kerala have been recovered by the Travancore Devaswam Board from the complainant’s sister’s house. The official team official gave this information on Sunday.
A team led by TDB Vigilance and Security Superintendent of Police Sunil Kumar V recovered the victim from the house of Sponsor Unnikrishnan Potti’s sister in Venjaramudu area of ​​Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday. Unnikrishnan Potty hails from Bengaluru. In 2019, he offered to put a layer of gold on the plates of the temple gatekeeper idols.
The gold plate under these gatekeeper idol was disappeared.
Work was completed during Kovid in 2020
Gold layer was completed in 2020 and the Pidam Kovid-19, placed under the idol, was assigned to the TDB officials through the devotees due to the rules due to the rules. But later Potty alleged that the Pidam was not present in the temple.
After this, the investigation started on the instructions of the High Court. The team searched the TDB Strong Room of Arnamula, but the victim was not found. Pidam was kept near a worker of potty. After media reports, the worker told Potty that the victim was with him and then gave it to the Sponsor’s sister.
Vigilance SP Sunil Kumar told the news agency PTI- We have recovered the victim and have taken it to Sabarimala.
What is the victim …
Pidam (or Peetham) is the base in South India on which the idol of a deity or goddess is placed. It can be of any metal or a layer of gold is mounted on it.
High court reprimanded on Monday
On September 17, the Kerala High Court took cognizance in this case. After receiving the plate on Monday, the report was submitted to the High Court. The case was heard by the Division Bench of Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan V and V Jayakumar of Justice. The court has strongly criticized the Travancore Devaswam Board. The court has said that the board did not keep the correct register of valuables of the temple, which helped hide the disturbances.
The court noticed that the records of jewelery and coins given by the devotees are placed in the register, in which description, date, receipt and quality are written. But there is no record of other things like Kodimaram, gatekeeper sculptures, Pidam.
The court noted that there is no entry to give these goods to anyone. Their weight was not even recorded while applying the gatekeeper idols again, which was intentionally, so that 4 kg of gold is not revealed.
Register of gold layer on the roof also missing
The court said that in 1999, the register of the work of placing a gold layer on the roof of Srikovil is also missing. According to artisans, more than 30 kg of gold was used then, but there is no official record.
The court directed that with the help of experts, complete inventory and evaluation of all the precious things of the temple should be done. The negligence of the officials of the Devaswam Board should also be investigated. The next hearing of the case will now be held in the end of October.
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