Jeweller says he wasn't gifted any gold by royal family
A floating image of Lord Vishnu in front of the Padmanabhaswamy temple. (Photo: File/DC archives)
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Travancore royal scion Sri Moolam Tirunal Rama Varma is headed for New Delhi to consult the counsel, Mr K K Venugopal, though the royal family has been tight-lipped on charges of pilferage of gold at Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple, levelled by amicus curiae Gopal Subramaniam.
The royal family’s silence, according to sources, owes to the fact that the case is coming up at the Supreme Court on April 23.
But sources empathetic to the royals said “it is suicidal” for the family to remain silent on the grounds that the matter is sub judice. “They should have denied it because we don’t think royals have stolen temple wealth”, said a source.
The royal family perhaps hadn’t gauged the importance of Gopal Subramaniam’s mission and not been fair to him when he started his own probe into the affairs at the temple on the directions of the Supreme Court.
The royals did not probably expect him to bring out an exhaustive report on the assets and goings-on at the temple. The alleged theft had taken place 17 years ago.
“Some of the royals thought the amicus curiae as an intruder but when he went about his business, he chanced upon glaring lapses at the temple. Being a criminal lawyer, he was able to get to the crux of the matter and quiz people like Raju, the goldsmith”, said a source.
The source said he would not lend any credibility to Raju’s version that the gold, including 3kg antique saratpolimala (hand-made 18-feet-long gold necklace adorning the deity) was given by the late Uthradom Tirunal to be melted and used for gold-plating the roof.
But he was not discouraged because the apex court was already sized of the matter and would initiate further measures on the strength of the amicus curiae report. He also described Justice C S Rajan’s defence of the royalty was “half-hearted.”
When contacted, former Additional Chief Secretary T Balakrishnan, an advisor to the late Uthradom Tirunal, said he had ceased to hold any Palace charge following the death of the reigning titular head (Uthradom Tirunal). “Nobody seeks my advice nor do I give it because my post has become infructuous”.
Jeweller Raju has denied that he had been gifted with 17 kilogram of gold and a sharappoli necklace for his help in smuggling out gold from the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple in the past saying that he was appointed by the late Uthradom Thirunal Marthandavarma for gold-related temple work.
The gold and sharappoli necklace were used for plating the roof of Ashtadik palakas inside the temple.
Mr Raju told a television channel that the amicus curiae, who inspected the work, was convinced about it. He said that his statement on illegal transportation of gold to Thanjavur given to the amicus curiae was based on hearsay.
“What the media was reporting now was not exactly as what I had told the amicus curiae,” Mr Raju said. However, he admitted that he did not sign a contract before taking up the work.
“Uthradom Thirunal would hand over the gold to me after assigning me the work. I don’t know whether he had followed any procedures for getting a job done. Anyhow, I have not taken gold outside,” he said.
‘Goldsmiths can take gold dust’
The allegation of amicus curiae Gopal Subramaniam that gold has been stolen from the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple is baseless, according to royal family sources. The allegation was made without cross-checking the practices and customs of the temple and its administration being followed by the royal family trust, sources said.
As per the custom, the royal family lets the goldsmiths take the gold dust which remains after they do the gold work in the temple. “When they finish the work, the king allows them to collect and take the gold dust, which is produced while carving and drilling gold. That has been the tradition,” a royal family member told Deccan Chronicle.
In this case also, the goldsmith might have collected the gold dust fallen on the sand and taken it with him as he was allowed to do so. “It is not that he was allowed to take a portion of the gold given to him for carrying out the work in the temple,” the royal family member added. The goldsmith would have retrieved a few grams of gold after filtering it out from the sand and not kilograms of gold, sources added.
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