Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple wealth being stolen?

There are "serious lapses" in management of Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple and the invaluable wealth its underground vaults contain, according to a report submitted in Supreme Court by the amicus curiae that favoured a direction for scientific audit of the treasure.

According to a report in The Times of India, amicus curiae Gopal Subramaniam, who inspected the Travancore royal family temple in Kerala capital Thiruvananthapuram, said in his report that that "a gold plating machine" had been found in the temple.

This, he said, suggested that some of the gold and ornaments stored inside vaults in the temple were being pilfered and fake gold was being put in their place.

The temple contains gold and ornaments worth Rs 1 lakh crore, said the newspaper report.

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The report submitted on Friday, also wanted the court to restrain the head of the Travancore Royal family from interfering in the day-to-day affairs of the temple as its trustees.

It urged the Apex court to order audit of the treasures by a competent team, preferably led by former Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai.

Casting a shadow on the trustees, the report said though they had opposed opening one of the vaults identified as 'Kallara-B", there had been eyewitness accounts of it being opened some year back.

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Subramaniam, who drew up the comprehensive report staying in the Kerala capital for several days, cited several instances of "mismanagement" and even the possibility of organised extraction by highly placed persons.

The family shrine of the Travancore royal house that ruled south Kerala for centuries, Sree Padmanabhawamy temple hogged worldwide media glare in 2011 as a court-ordered inventory confirmed that its underground vaults contained huge treasures.

With a litigant seeking higher transparency in the management of the shrine and its riches, the Apex court ordered the inventory of the treasures.

The royal house has approached the Supreme Court against the high court order directing the government to look into the possibility of the taking over the temple.