3 crowns of Govindaraja Swamy temple go missing

Tirupati: Three golden crowns of the TTD Govindaraja Swamy Temple, Tirupati, went missing on Saturday evening. This issue came to the light late in the night.

Following this, the TTD vigilance department filed a case with the police. The three crowns are estimated to be worth Rs 40 lakh and weigh 1351 grams. The sensational incident took place during the evening Nivedyam time around 5.45 pm. After the completion of Nivedyam, temple Archakas found that the golden crowns of processional deities of Govindaraja Swamy went missing.

Every day, Archakas perform Nivedyam at 5.45 pm. On Saturday also, Archakas performed Nivedyam, during that time temple doors were shut down for 30 minutes. After reopening of the temple doors, the staff found that the golden crowns were missing.

Immediately, a case was filed by them at the Tirupati East police station and TTD EO Anilkumar Singhal and CVSO Gopinath Jetti were informed. Late in the night, Tirupati Urban SP KKN Anburajan visited the temple and examined the scene of offence and formed two special parties for investigation. The Tirupati central crime police have checked with all the CC TV footages in and around of the temple premises and outside of the temple too.

Meanwhile, the police and TTD vigilance sleuths jointly came to the conclusion that a stranger was involved behind the the missing of the crowns. The police have taken all the CC camera footages from the banks and other commercial establishments in the temple and four Mada streets for investigation. A police team has been doing technical work regarding the case under CCS DSP Ravishankar Reddy.

Another team went out of Tirupati to trace the accused with some clues. However, the police suspect the involvement of insiders as it is not easy to carry the crowns out of the temple during devotees’ visiting time.

In this regard, Tirupati CCS Police has questioned all the Archakas and other temple staff who were on duty on Saturday evening in the temple.
On Sunday afternoon, TTD EO Anil Kumar Singhal, CVSO Gopinath Jetti and Tirupati JEO P Bhaskar and other top officials visited the Govindaraja Swamy temple and enquired about the theft.

Singhal told the media that the vigilance department officials have filed a case and the police would bust the case. While Tirupati Urban SP KKN Anbu Rajan told The Hans India that the police have got some clues regarding the missing of the crowns and within two days we can nab the offenders.”