More Tirupati jewels pawned by chief priest recovered

TIRUPATI: More skeletons are tumbling out of the TTD cupboard. The police on Saturday recovered seven more jewels which Venkatramana Dikshitulu,
the chief priest of Sri Kodanda Ramaswamy temple in Tirupati, had pawned with a jeweller. Apart from that, TTD officials discovered that three more jewels are missing and a hunt is on to recover them.

The seven jewels including a ‘Laxmi haram’, an emerald-studded precious necklace
, some chains and hand ornaments, were recovered from pawnbrokers Kamadhenu & Co. and they weigh 1.305 kg, DSP Ganga Raju told STOI. The authorities had on Friday seized two necklaces weighing nearly a kg which the chief priest had pawned for marrying off his daughters.

Both Venkataramana and Sagarmal, the pawnbroker of Kamadhenu & Co., have been arrested. A kg of gold fetches Rs 15 lakh in the market. It is still not known as to what was the weight of the three other jewels that the priest is said to have pawned with another jeweller.

The DSP said Venkataramana had pawned all the jewels recovered so far for a sum of Rs 10.15 lakh of which he had repaid Rs 3.5 lakh last August. TTD officials are also on the lookout for Raghava Reddy, the owner of Vinayaka pawnbroker where the chief priest is said to have pawned the three other items.

The jewels and other precious items in the custody of the TTD has suddenly come under the scanner after a Nellore resident filed a petition in the high court alleging irregularities in the safekeeping of the TTD jewellery.
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