Security frenzy over Kerala temple treasure trove

DHNS

• Valuables worth 50,000 cr and still counting

 

Thiruvananthapuram, 02 July 2011: The Kerala government on Friday put in place a permanent security setup in and around the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple here following the discovery of treasures worth a whopping Rs 50,000 crore in its secret vaults on Thursday and Friday.

 

The treasure excavated from an underground chamber of the “A” vault of the temple on Thursday had stunned not just the expert committee appointed by the Supreme Court and those who were at the scene to assist them but the entire state.

 

The articles included thousands of gold necklaces, crowns, coins, jewels and precious stones.

 

If a necklace found on Thursday was 18 feet long and weighed 10.5 kg, 536 kg of 18th century gold coins and about 20 kg of the British East India Company’s gold coins were found on Friday.

 

Among the coins were those of the Napoleon era. In all 1,000 “saratpoli mala” studded with gems called “aval” were found and a collection of these gems themselves weighed over a tonne. The worth of valuables found from vaults “C”, “D” and “F” which were examined since Monday was estimated to be about Rs 1,000 crore.

 

The unravelling of the mysterious vaults has suddenly catapulted the temple into the league of the nation’s richest temples.

 

The expert committee members have refused to either confirm or deny the worth of the valuables as reported in the media. However, sources who were present at the scene have estimated the present market value of the valuables at over Rs 50,000 crore considering their antiquity too.

 

The seven-member expert committee headed by two retired High Court judges had been asked by the Supreme Court to prepare an inventory of the articles in the six temple vaults following a petition by advocate T P Sundararajan alleging mismanagement of temple affairs.

 

The state government has strengthened the security around and inside the temple following the discovery of the treasure. There would be round–the-clock security around the temple and CCTV cameras would be installed.

 

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has said the government has been worried ever since the court asked it to take over the administration of the temple last year.

 

The previous LDF government in the state had expressed its inability to take up the responsibility.