In the land of Azhwars&Nayanmars –
devouts go to Temples everyday. WE believe in surrendering UNTO HIMSELF – and
GOD will take care of us. For devout HINDUS – GOD IS EVERYTHING. HE PROTECTS US IN EVERY WAY .. .. there are
beautiful, ancient, famous temples – devotees offer crores in Temple hundis,
donate lands, donate material, arrange for so many celebrations .. .. .. .. and
at some point of time – Temples went into the hands of Government.
Government for administering temples
created a monster called HR&CE – the intent was administration – what will
a common man do – expect that in the civil society, any criminal misdoings will
be punished by Police and Courts; appointed Govt Officials will administer –
but alas, if you read the recent articles and follow the happenings in Tamil
Nadu – all hopes will be dashed as Police officials and HR&CE officials
are involved in looting temple funds and
indulged in idol thefts too ~ harsh and unbelievable – it may sound, but –
these are recorded in media and chided by Courts !!
~ h o w p a t h e t i c !!!!!
The Hindu Temples have been in possession of thousands of acres
of lands since ancient times. Even during the times of East India Company,
compaints were received regarding maladministration of these institutions. In
1858, the Indian Government's Administration was transferred to the British
crown directly from the hands of the East India Company. At that time itself, the British Government assured that it will
not interfere in the religious matters; there were large no. of complaints –
and when the mantle passed on to local Govt, life has not changed for
Temples. There have been complaints of mismanagement
of valuable assets like icons, jewels, etc. and encroachment of properties;
authorities unable to collect the measly rents, not protect the properties but
indulge in the way of worship, thinking devotees to be vassals. From the malfunctions of Panagal times,
continuing till, meantime the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act,
1951 was promulgated.
With this background – read the sordid occurrences below:
1) The Idol Wing police arrested KadherBasha, suspended Deputy
Superintendent of Police, in connection with the theft of idols from Sri
Narumburnathar temple in Tirunelveli district.
While investigating the case, Basha inferred that idol smuggling
barons were linked to the theft and in order to save them he allegedly closed
it in 2007 by arresting three persons who were not involved in the crime.
Subsequently, the stolen idol was smuggled to the U.S. through Dheenadayalan,
an antique dealer.A few months ago, the agency came to know that the idol
stolen from the Pazhavur temple was brought back to the country and confiscated
by the Customs department in Kolkata.After investigation, a case was booked
against Basha, who was out on bail in connection with the Aruppukotai idol
theft case. He was picked up from Chennai and produced before the Additional
Chief Judicial Magistrate Court on Friday. He was lodged in the Central Prison,
Tiruchi.
2) The Madras high court on Thursday granted conditional bail to
retired IAS officer Veera Shanmugamoni, former commissioner of Hindu Religious
Endowment and Charitable Trust Department, who was arrested by the Idol Wing
CID for alleged misappropriation of money and gold collected for making two
idols to Ekambareswarar Sivan Temple, Kancheepuram.
The court then ordered his release on bail on a bond for a sum
of Rs10,000 with two sureties, for a like sum to the satisfaction of the
special court for idol theft cases, Kumbakkonam.Shanmugamoni has also been
directed to report before the Idol Wing police, whenever required for
interrogation and not to tamper with the evidence or witnesses during the
trial.
According to the prosecution, there had been a deep-seated
common criminal conspiracy hatched in secrecy among the officials of the
department, including the high-ranking petitioner to surreptitiously remove
1,600-year-old antique PanchalokamSomaskandar idol and the antique
PanchalokamEalavaarkulali Amman idol from the temple and have it clandestinely
replaced over the years with newly made modern replica of the idols.The further
case of the prosecution is that Shanmugamoni, as the commissioner of the
department, along with the additional commissioner in-charge should have
ensured that the two newly made idols should contain a minimum of 8.7kg of gold
in the total metal composition. The cost of 8.7kg of gold in 2015 amounts to
Rs2.82cr. A huge amount of funds was collected from the devotees and it has not
been properly accounted and that apart, there was absolutely no gold component
in both the idols and thereby, the persons who were at the helm of affairs
during the relevant point of time have misappropriated huge amounts of money,
the prosecution added.
3) The Madras High Court expressed shock hearing about destruction
of records sought by the Idol Theft Wing - Criminal Investigation Department,
from Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department in connection with
the alleged theft of an idol of a peacock from PunnaivananatharSannidhi in
Kapaleeswarar temple at Mylapore.
A Division Bench of Justices R. Mahadevan and P.D. Audikesavalu
were taken aback when government advocate P. Kritika Kamal informed the court
that the HR & CE officials had been giving “evasive replies” to requests
made by Idol Theft Wing to part with the documents and recently they had
claimed that all those documents were destroyed.
“How the documents can be destroyed? Who destroyed them? When
were they destroyed? This is a very serious issue. Everybody responsible for
this must be taken to task,” the senior judge in the Bench said and directed
Inspector General of Police A.G. PonnManickavel to proceed further and find out
the truth behind the claim of destruction of documents.The judge also said that
the missing documents only end up affirming the allegations of writ petitioner
Rangarajan Narasimhan that the original idol of the peacock carrying a flower
on its beak had been shifted out of the temple during its consecration in 1994
and replaced with an identical idol of the bird holding a snake on its beak.
“It amounts to impersonation of idols. Lakhs of devotees have
been worshipping fake idol for the last 14 years,” the petitioner said and
urged the court to order installation of a new idol after following the rituals
as per agamas.
~ who will save the Temples from the crutches of these people – ONLY
LORD HIMSELF CAN !!
