THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: CPM leader V.S. Achuthanandan took a sarcastic line while criticising the royal family. “Hearing some of the family members speak it seems as if they have direct communication with God,” he said. “It is not the God’s wish to keep the chamber shut, but that of these family members,” he added. The amicus curiae Gopal Subramaniam had based his recommendation to open the B chamber on the findings of the Vinod Rai Committee, constituted by the Supreme Court in 2014 to conduct a special audit of the temple and its properties. The devaswom minister’s call for the opening of the chamber, too, is informed by the Rai report.
The former CAG, in a status report submitted to the Supreme Court on August 1, 2014, said: “Though there were reported apprehensions in opening the B Nilavara (Bharathakone Kallara), it had been opened twice in the year 1990 (on June 8 and July 9), and five times during 2002 (March 9, April 17 and 27, December 16 and 21) and silver ingots were taken out and gold vessels were deposited and subsequently taken out.” In Rai’s final report, besides other thefts of temple valuables, it was recorded that 80 gold vessels were taken out on December 2002. However, it was not mentioned whether it was spirited out of 'B' Chamber. The erstwhile royals insist that Rai's conclusion that B Chamber was opened was a fallacy born out of ignorance.
“B Nilavra has a small antechamber that people might have entered. The main chamber has never been opened,” said erstwhile royal family member Aditya Varma. Tomes on Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple, too, paint the chamber as a two-roomed one: the Bharathakone Kallara and the Sreepandara Kallara. The Bharathokone Kallara is the antechamber Aditya Varma referred to, and Sreepandara Kallara the main chamber. Incidentally, Mr Rai has specified that the silver ingots were taken out of Bharathakone Kallara, the antechamber.
The ‘E’ and ‘F’ chambers are opened frequently as they hold the ritual utensils. ‘C’ and ‘D’ contains gold, silver and other precious jewellery that are used during special occasions. The most exotic treasures are said to be in ‘A’ and ‘B’, both of which are said to be almost under the sanctum sanctorum. It is said that ‘A’ chamber alone holds treasure worth Rs two lakh crore. An official attempt was made to enter Vault B in 2012. The examiners removed an iron grill, the first line of defence. Then, after an antechamber, there was a window secured by three locks. They removed two locks but were unable to open the third. "We could have opened it if we used a gas cutter.But we decided against it as the chamber was very near the 'sree kovil'," said former justice B S Rajan, one of the members of the inventorying committee.
