Tirupati: Within 24 hours, the TTD Board made a U-turn on Monday and said that the jewellery of Lord Venkateswara will not be displayed.
Board chairman Putta Sudhakar Yadav had on Sunday said in Tirupati that the jewels would be displayed on June 28.
He said, “Even the Jagannadha committee and Wadva committee said there was no pink diamond and it was just a ruby. The broken pieces of the ruby are also kept safely.”
Mr Sudhakar Yadav said, “We are sure that the allegations made by Dr Deekshitulu is baseless. There is no chance of anyone taking out the jewellery from the temple.”
He said three keys are required to open the lockers. They are kept with the deputy executive officer, the assistant executive officer and the superintendent.
“No one person can alone open the lockers. We also found that some numerical pins were kept for security,” he said.
He said, “We thought we should not talk about the jewels until we see them.”
“Now we have seen the security. Dr Deekshitulu should immediately apologise to the Lord and the devotees. If he still has any doubts, he should remember that we will be present in Tirumala to clear his doubts,” he added.
Meanwhile, the TTD board members are happy that they had got a chance to see the ancient jewellery of Lord Venkateswara kept in the Tirumala temple, saying it was a once-in-a-lifetime movement.
After completing the inspection of the jewels, the TTD board members held a meeting at the Padmavati rest house in Tirumala.
The stored jewels of the Lord are rarely seen, kept as they are in a high security zone inside the temple. Some of the jewels are very ancient.
A register of the jewels was initiated only in 1952. It is learnt that tonnes of jewels are present inside the temple.
Speaking to this newspaper, a board member said, “We feel that we are really blessed. This is definitely a lifetime opportunity, I’m unable to express my feelings. I never thought I would get this chance.”
