Unanswered queries on missing ornaments from temple in Khammam

Khammam: There are some unanswered questions pertaining to the issue of the missing ornaments of the Lord Sitramachandra Swamy temple in Bhadrachalam that were recovered on Saturday.

Some suspect that officials allowed the culprits to make replicas of the ornaments and place them in the lockers of the temple.

After searching the lockers several times, officials had concluded that ornaments worth Rs 2.13 lakh were missing. A complaint was lodged at the police station regarding the “theft” and cops had started investigations.

When the officials looked again, they found the missing ornaments. How is that possible, asked a devotee. Officials had been searching for the ornaments – donated by an NRI in 2012 – since Saturday morning.

They only found them in the evening. There are thus allegations that officials gave time for the culprits to make replicas of the ornaments and place them instead of the original ones.

There are also allegations of a tussle for dominance among the priests serving at the temple. The government apparently does not want to let this matter come to light and thus allowed the guilty to make another set of ornaments to replace the missing ones, so as not to hurt the sentiments of devotees.

The cops too have not taken the case seriously, complained sources.