The 1,381 kgs of gold seized by the flying squad of the Election Commission in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday was found to be belonging to country’s richest temple of Tirumala.
The gold was deposited in Punjab National Bank for three years and the period expired some three weeks ago. The flying squad seized the gold as the staff of TTD carrying the gold had no proper documentation.
TTD executive officer Anil Kumar Singhal told media persons in Tirumala on Wednesday that the TTD Board had written to the PNB officials for restoration of the gold in the temple treasury. However, the Board has not received any letter from the PNB officials about bringing the gold to Tirumala. Equipped with a letter from TTD, Punjab National Bank officials from Tirupati left for Chennai to get the seized gold released.
The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Trust Board has been depositing the gold offered by the devotees of Lod Balaji in banks for the last several years for interest under gold monetisation scheme. The temple has deposited a total of 8,500 kgs of gold in several nationalised banks including State Bank of India, Andhra Bank, PNB and India Overseas Bank. PNB pays the highest 1.75 percent interest for gold. The other banks pay between 1.25 and 1.5 percent.
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