Andhra Pradesh High Court disposes of petition on Pink Diamond

Nelapadu (Amaravati): The Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court comprising Chief Justice Arup Kumar Goswami and Justice C Praveen Kumar disposed of the writ petition (public interest litigation) filed by officials spokesperson of the TDP Yallapalli Vidya Sagar seeking direction to the state endowments department and other officials to enquire whether pink diamond presented by Maharaja of Mysore to Lord Balaji was in existence and whether it was auctioned in Geneva. The counsel for the petitioner D S N V Prasad Babu submitted that a suit on pink diamond filed by the TTD seeking damages was withdrawn and therefore the contentions regarding the pink diamond needed to be investigated.

It may be recalled that former chief priest of Tirumala Ramana Deekshitulu alleged that the pink diamond was broken and was auctioned in Geneva.

The Division Bench pointed out that the committee headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice D P Vadhwa had submitted the report stating that the allegations about 'Pink Diamond' were false. Another committee with former judge of the Supreme Court Justice M Jagannadha Rao which enquired into the Dollar Scam along with pink diamond also did not find the identity of diamond in the records of TTD from 1952 to till date, the bench pointed out.

The Chief Justice speaking on behalf of the Division Bench said that when the two committees have given findings in connection with the pink diamond there is no justification to pursue the matter.