TIRUPATI: The three-day high drama around transportation of Lord Balaji's gold ended on a fruitful note, as officials of Punjab National Bank finally managed to hand-over the 1,381 kg of gold to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) at its treasury, situated on the premises of administrative building in Tirupati on Saturday.
The gold which Lord Balaji got back is the same which was seized by the poll squad in Tiruvallur district of Tamil Nadu, a day before the April 18 second phase Lok Sabha elections, after the bank officials failed to submit substantiating documents related to the movement of the gold.
It may be recalled that on April 17, the poll squad had spotted three vans with nearly ten armed guards passing by near Puduchatram village on Chennai-Tiruvallur Highway. When they intercepted the vehicles, the officials found 56 boxes containing nearly 22-kg gold in each of the vehicles, totaling 1,381 kg of gold. The officials had seized the gold after the officials from PNB, escorting the vehicles, had allegedly failed to authenticate that the gold belongs to TTD.
However, TTD one of the richest temples in the country had deposited a total of 8,500-kg of gold with Andhra Bank and PNB three years ago. As the three-year deposit of 1,381-kg of gold matured recently, TTD asked PNB officials to hand over the same at its administrative building in Tirupati. Hence, the gold was being moved from Chennai to Tirupati by the bank officials, but was seized by the poll squad and handed over at Poonamallee police station along with the vehicles. It was learnt that the value of the confiscated gold is estimated at over Rs 450 crore.
Following the seizure, PNB officials left for Chennai from Tirupati the same night to get the seized gold released, armed with a letter from TTD. The bank officials had been coordinating with the Tiruvallur district officials for the last three days, even after EC cleared the gold consignment.
However, the release orders were issued by the EC later, with the help of which the seized gold was released and finally handed over to TTD in Tirupati on Saturday evening. A senior official from TTDs vigilance and security wing has confirmed the development to DC, stating that the gold was received and shifted to TTDs treasury by Saturday evening.
