17th century jewels vanish from the Tirupati temple

An IPS rank officer heading the TTD’s vigilance wing “An IPS rank officer heading the TTD’s vigilance wing is probing the allegation. It is premature to arrive at any kind of conclusion,” TTD Chairman D K Adikeshavulu Naidu told Bangalore Mirror.

He also revealed that the temple does not maintain any records of its own on these ornaments. “Now, in the backdrop of the incident, we will seek the help of experts from the archaeology department,” he said.

The Hampi Kannada University has done extensive research on the Vijaynagar king’s gifts to Tirupati and has brought out a 900-page compendium on the ‘Inscriptions of Sri Krishnadevaraya’. “There are about 45 inscriptions on the temple walls with detailed reference to the ornaments gifted by Krishnadevaraya. However, we cannot estimate the monetary value of the ornaments owing to changed methodologies of weighing gold,” explained Dr Paramashivamurthy, Reader at the university’s epigraphy department.

According to sources, the TTD and the archaeological department locked horns over gold plating work on the temple’s walls. Though TTD succeeded in covering some parts of the walls with gold hangker plates, the work was subsequently stopped. “The archaeological department then decided to record these inscriptions in the form of digital photographs and e-stamping (tracing),” explained Dr Murthy.