In a bid to salvage the reputation of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), which has been accused of financial irregularities and ‘stealing’ the ornaments of Lord Venkateshwara, the TTD authorities have decided to end the ongoing controversy by exhibiting the jewels to the media on June 28.
TTD chairman Putta Sudhakar Yadav on Sunday informed media that all the jewellery would be put on display for the media, so that they can see the deliberate misinformation being spread about TTD.
Deccan Chronicle reported that the TTD will be convening a meeting on Tuesday to discuss the modalities on how to arrange the ornaments for display.
TTD authorities have been vehemently denying the allegations made by former TTD chief priest Ramana Deekshithulu, who has been continuously attacking the TTD and accusing them of financial irregularities and also of stealing old ornaments.
In May, he stoked a major controversy after claiming that the jewellery was being smuggled and auctioned in Geneva.
He was later sacked from the TTD on grounds of exceeding the retirement age, after he made the grave allegations.
As he failed to budge and continued making the allegations, the TTD later slapped a Rs 100 crore defamation case against him.
While the TTD authorities have rubbished the allegations made by Deekshithulu, they couldn’t ascertain if it was safe to put the precious ornaments donated by several kings, on public display, claiming that the Agama Shastra doesn’t permit them to put the ornaments on display.
Giving credence to the allegations made by Deekshithulu, Jana Sena Chief actor Pawan Kalyan also recently claimed that the jewellery was smuggled to a Middle East country in a private aircraft. He went on to say that the TDP leaders were aware of it.
Pawan Kalyan said on Twitter that a senior IPS officer revealed the information of how the ornaments were ‘smuggled’.