Royals take no action against stolen Padmanabha valuables

Thiruvananthapuram, Sept 15: The Royal family of Travancore failed to take any action against the perpetrators despite of knowing that a list of valuables were missing from Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram.

The temple has been in the news lately after massive riches were found from the vaults in the temple which were opened following the orders of Supreme Court.

Reports by the judicial commission suggest that the document proof also show that several valuables were stolen or lost from the chambers.

“Incidentally, it came to our notice that in the item No 4 – Thankakuda, a golden umbrella with hanging tassels made of gold and green stones, 14 green coloured stones were found broken. The hangings were attached to the umbrella by golden threads. Some of the golden threads were found missing …" said the reports that listed the missing utensils at the temple.

“In item No 5, Vellipidi Swarnakuda (golden umbrella with silver handle), and with hanging tassels of green stones covered with gold attached to the umbrella by golden hooks, 44 golden hooks were missing and were replaced by copper or iron hooks. Three golden threads in the golden umbrella were also found missing. In Item No 15, two out of the four silver bells were found missing," revealed the judicial commission report.

After being interrogated about the missing valuables at the temple, the executive officer responded saying that he only took charge of the temple administration recently and was unaware of any such missing articles.

“Advocate Anandapadmanabhan and Advocate Balagovindan have requested us to take the sample weight of one item in each category. This request was strongly opposed by Punchakkari Raveendran Nair and palace representative Ravi Varma Raja stating that there is no specific order from the court for that purpose. The Executive Officer present was willing for weighing the valuables and conducting the purity test on the pooja utensils by the Judicial Commission. Since the parties objected (to) the weighing of valuables, we have decided to do so next time after getting specific orders from the court," said the commission report.

The commission also tried to count 11 valuables that were kept in a wooden box to insure the safety of the valuables. The list of pooja utensils also showed that one silver bell was missing after it was handed over to the temple authorities on 19 Oct 2008.

"The golden and silver articles worth millions of rupees handed over to the temple authorities were not properly handled by the persons who are using them for the poojas," noted the Judicial Commission.

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