Sri Padmanabhaswamy: 'Vault B, Vault A opened'

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 21: Padmanabha Dasa, former senior clerk at the Sri Padmanabha Swamy temple repeated his claim that he was a witness to Uthradom Tirunal Marthanda Varma, head, Royal family when he opened the B-vault in the year 1997.

“It was a Sunday, 10 a.m," he was quoted as saying to the Deccan Chronicle.

“The silver bars required to plate the flagmast of the Krishna Temple here were taken from the B Cellar," he said. He also added that vault A was often opened so that bars could be taken out to gold coat the three doors.

“Under the pretext of gold-coating doors, 500 kg of gold was spirited out of Cellar A," he said.

“And then when he walks out of the temple towards his car after a visit, a servant will walk behind him carrying the gold-plated mould, now carefully covered in silk," he said.

“At times the flask of payasam that he carries outside will contain precious stones," he added.

Padmanabha Dasa repeated what he had said in an affidavit that was filed in the Thiruvananthauram District court in 2007 and also briefed Achuthanandan over the issue. He also added that after he filed an affidavit, acid was thrown at him by unidentified attackers.

Meanwhile, S Achuthanadan accused the Royal family of Travancore, Marthanda Varma of smuggling precious articles from the Sri Padmanabha Swamy temple. (Read more: Sri Padmanabha Swamy: Royal Family, royal smugglers?)

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