My stand vindicated: Achuthanandan on temple wealth report

Left leader V.S.Achuthanandan Saturday said the report of the Supreme Court-appointed amicus curiae Gopal Subramaniam has upheld his allegations that gold and valuables from the famed Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple here were smuggled out by members of the Travancore royal family.

"More than two years back, I had levelled this very same allegation that the members of the family were taking out gold in the small vessels that is normally used to carry the prasadam from the temple.

"Then many mocked me and dismissed it as something which I did to show the royal family members in poor light. Now, the very same thing has been said by the amicus curiae in his report that he has now submitted to the Supreme Court," Achuthanandan told reporters here.

The former Kerala chief minister accused the present United Democratic Front government and the Travancore royal family of being hand in glove and now Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Devasom Minister V.S.Sivakumar owe people an answer to this.

"The report of the amicus curiae mentions of the death of an auto driver whose body was found in the temple pond, an incident of a temple employee who was attacked with acid, after he was privy to valuables being smuggled out of the temple and also of reports of sexual advancements on temple employees.

"I had, in a letter, informed the government of all these incidents, but not even a probe was announced because the government appeared to be afraid of the Travancore royal family," alleged Achuthanandan.

It was in July 2011 that an apex court-appointed committee stumbled upon six vaults in the temple. With just vault B left to be opened, the treasure that has now been found in the other five vaults have been estimated to be valued more than Rs.1 lakh crore.

Currently the affairs of the temple is run by an executive committee which has members from the temple besides representatives from the royal family.

"The wealth of the temple is public property but the amicus curiae report states that it is being run as a private property by the royal family and hence they should be excluded from the committee. With this, it has now become very impetrative that a committee on the lines of the Guruvayoor Temple be formed here also," said Achuthanandan.

The apex court later this month is scheduled to take up the amicus curiae's report.

Sivakumar, meanwhile, said that they are yet to get the copy of the report.