All jewels of Tirumala Lord are safe

Tirupati: As decided earlier, Tirumala-Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Trust Board members led by its Chairman P Sudhakar Yadav inspected Lord Venkateswara’s jewellery inside the Tirumala temple on Monday afternoon and found that the timeless and priceless jewellery are safe.

The inspection was carried out in the wake of former chief priest of the Tirumala temple AV Ramana Deekshithulu making allegations that precious jewellery items had gone missing, including the pink diamond in a necklace used to adorn the Lord in processions during Brahmotsavams.

TTD EO Anil Kumar Singhal and Endowments Commissioner YV Anuradha and seven board members also participated in the inspection. TTD Tirumala JEO K Srinivas Raju took the board members around.

Later Sudhakar Yadav, speaking to mediapersons, described as unfounded the allegations that it was a pink diamond that was missing from Srivari necklace. He said what broke off the necklace of the Lord was only a ruby.

The TTD Chairman said: “All the jewellery is safe. We all have seen it with our eyes and checked with Thiruvabharanam register. The EO, JEO Tirumala and other officials have shown the jewellery to us." He denied digging took place inside Potu.

"We have seen the inside of potu and there was no evidence of any digging for unearthing treasure," he said. Board member Sudha Narayana Murthy said: “Officials have explained to us the unique locking system used to safeguard the jewellery. 

There is no way jewellery could be stolen. The entire jewellery is safe.” Another board member and MLA Bonda Uma Maheswara Rao said that it is not possible for anyone to take away jewellery form inside the temple. While this is so, agama sastra pundits advised the administration against keeping the jewellery for public exhibition.

One of the Agama advisers Sundar Vadana Bttacharyulu said that jewellery of the Lord should not be brought out for public exhibition. He also expressed concern over safety of the jewellery. TTD board members K Raghavender Rao, E Peddy Reddy, Dokka Jaganatham were also part of the team that inspected the jewellery.