CPM wants Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple vault opened

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Pressure is mounting on the erstwhile Travancore royal family to pave the way for the opening of the ‘B’ Chamber, the only one of the six underground cellars of Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple whose riches have not been inventorised and documented. The family steadfastly holds on to its stand, which it had stated in an earlier affidavit filed before the Supreme Court, that the chamber should not be opened. Devaswom minister Kadakampally Surendran said he was not sure why the family had opposed the Supreme Court’s suggestion, and said that he would hold discussions with the family on July 10.

The amicus curiae, Gopal Subramaniam, who had already submitted in the apex court that the chamber should be opened to end what he had termed “useless suspicion”, will arrive in the capital in the coming week at the apex court’s bidding to hold talks with the family. CPM leader V.S. Achuthanandan said those opposed to the opening of the chamber should be viewed with suspicion. “Hearing some of the family members speak it seems as if they have direct communication with God,” he was sarcastic. “It is not the God’s wish to keep the chamber shut but that of these family members,” he said.

The amicus curiae had based his recommendation to open the B chamber on the findings of the Vinod Rai Committee, constituted by the Supreme Court in 2014 to conduct a special audit of the temple and its properties. The devaswom minister’s call for the opening of the chamber, too, is informed by the Rai report. The former CAG, in a status report submitted to the Supreme Court on August 1, 2014, said: “Though there were reported apprehensions in opening the B Nilavara (Bharathakone Kallara), it had been opened twice in the year 1990 (on June 8 and July 9), and five times during 2002 (March 9, April 17 and 27, December 16 and 21) and silver ingots were taken out and gold vessels were deposited and subsequently taken out.”

In Rai’s final report, it was recorded that 80 gold vessels were taken out in 2002. However, it was not mentioned whether it was spirited out of ‘B’ Chamber. The erstwhile royals insist that Rai’s conclusion that B Chamber was opened was a fallacy born out of ignorance. “B Nilavra has a small antechamber. The main chamber has never been opened,” said erstwhile royal family member Aditya Varma.