Bengaluru: If this hasn’t caught the goddess' attention, what will? On August 4, on the day when the faithful prostrate themselves before the Goddess Lakshmi to mark Varamahalakshmi Vrata, placing gold and cash before her, one man decided he wasn’t going to hold back.
So instead of placing a few notes at the goddess' feet, Surya Narayan aka Soori, who is a contractor with Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA), stacked an altar placed before the goddess, with hundreds of Rs 100, Rs 500 and Rs 2000 notes, decked his family in gold ornaments, and made them hold baskets full of gold jewellery! Soori is the son of an auto driver Krishnappa. And a realtor.
After pictures of the offerings that showed Soori’s sister and brother-in-law, weighed down in gold ornaments and cash was put on social media and went viral by Tuesday, questions abound on whether the person in the picture was an IT officer or a contractor!
At a time when getting cash from an ATM and banks post demonetization is a virtual impossibility, everyone wondered how this man could hold such huge amounts of cash and how he had escaped the hawk eye of I-T department which had tried to make an example of minister D.K. Shivakumar on the very same day. Mr. Soori had his own explanation to offer, saying he had amassed assets and cash worth Rs. 15 crore because he was a God-fearing and religious person and observed and celebrated all Hindu festivals.
Soorie said he withdrew Rs 73 lakh from a bank, specially for the pooja. He was a law abiding person who has been paying Rs. 83 lakh in ncome taxes annually, he said, adding that after finding initial success in real estate he took to it full time. He also claimed that he purchased BDA sites from the allottees at lower price and make a huge killing later when he sold the plots.
Denying his involvement in alternative site scams and selling the corner sites, he said, he was preparing to file a cyber complaint with the police after the photo went viral on social media.
