After years of suspense, the devotees of the Sri Kashi Mutt Samsthan in Tirupati may have a hope of finding a former deputy pontiff of the Mutt and recovering valuable articles belonging to the Mutt.On Wednesday, the Kerala High Court entrusted the CBI with the task of locating Swami Raghavendra Tirtha, the former deputy pontiff who had allegedly fled with articles of religious value belonging to the mutt in March 2011. However, in October that year, he was arrested by the Andhra Pradesh police, but not all the articles were found on him. By the time this was discovered, he had already obtained bail and disappeared again.The High Court said that it handed over investigations to the CBI in only exceptional cases, and in the instant case, it was done as "the decree in the case has national ramifications since it involves the retrieval of deities and invaluable items belonging to the Samsthan."The CBI has been ordered to "trace, arrest and produce" Raghavendra Theertha based on a petition filed by Swami Sudheendra Theertha, the presiding pontiff of the Kashi Mutt, which guides the Gouda Saraswat Brahmins. Colloquially called GSBs, the Gouda Saraswat Brahmins as the name indicates, are a Brahmin community that is spread across Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra and speak the Konkani language. Raghavendra Tirtha had originally made off with 234 pieces of jewellery studded with precious stones, 27 idols, 50 silver articles and over 100 saligramas. The saligramas are idols which have been worshipped at the Mutt for centuries and are fossils that are believed to have been procured from the Gandaki River in Nepal, according to a Times of India report. They are believed to give divine powers to its possessors.When the Andhra Pradesh police arrested him in Kadapa in 2011, they seized Rs 8.75 lakh in cash and recovered 20 idols, according to a Daijiworld report. Who is Raghavendra Theertha Swami? Raghavendra Thirtha Swami is the former deputy pontiff of the Sri Kashi Math Samsthan. According to a DNA report, the swami was born Shivananda Pai and was given sanyasa deeksha in 1989, as a disciple of Sudheendra Tirtha. In 1994, the head pontiff entrusted his deputy Raghavendra Tirtha with the performance of certain temple rituals.According to a report published by Rediff, trouble started for the junior priest in November 1999, when 112 members of the Gowda Saraswat Brahmin Temples Association in Mangaluru signed a memorandum questioning his religious capabilities and submitted it to Sudhindra Tirtha. Raghavendra was then forced to request Sudhindra Tirtha to relieve him from some of his duties which the latter agreed to do. The Mutt’s followers, however, took Raghavendra Tirtha’s request as an admission of his incapability and allegedly started a campaign against him, following which he was removed from his post in July 2000. This was just the beginning of a long battle for supremacy between the two priests. Raghavendra Tirtha obtained an injunction against Sudhindra, preventing the latter from removing him. He stated that the July 21 order was not permanent because Sudhindra Thirtha had already passed on most powers of the Mutt to him on December 12, 1994 after publicly renouncing his post as head pontiff. Raghavendra Tirtha also added that he was given the Vyasa-Raghupathi idols which are symbols of the Math's authority.According to the Rediff report, several senior members of the Mutt believed that the clash between the two priests was "for the immense wealth controlled by the samsthan"."There have been allegations of financial irregularity in the running of the institutions and management of properties. Siphoning of funds worth millions was alleged in the construction of a Rs 30 million temple at Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh. The income tax department had frozen fixed deposits in the name of Raghavendra Thirtha in two banks in Mangalore as he had failed to file tax returns for the assessment year 1999-2000," D Jose wrote in the report.Read the HC's judgment here.