Udupi: Temple staff who used to loot gold donated by devotees arrested

Udupi, Feb 24: The police arrested a bill collector working at the Sri Mookambika Temple and recovered gold ornaments worth Rs. 12.45 lakh from him at Kollur in Udupi district on Wednesday.

The bill collector, Shivaram B., used to take away gold ornaments donated by devotees to the temple and pledge them in various financial institutions to lead a life of ease. The Sri Mookambika Temple is one of the largest revenue earning temples under the Department of Muzrai in the State.

According to the police, Shivaram (43) used to work at counter number one at the temple. He was given the job of collecting gold and silver ornaments donated by devotees and storing them in a cupboard temporarily and then hand them over to the Executive Officer of the temple, since July 22, 2012.

But, Shivaram went missing for a week since February 15, 2016. He had left without giving the keys (of the cupboard) to the Executive Officer. Executive Officer T.R. Uma suspected that Shivaram might be misusing the ornaments and lodged a complaint at the Kollur police station on February 22. A case under Section 408 of Indian Penal Code was registered.

The police traced Shivaram in Kollur and took him in for questioning on February 23. He then handed over the keys to the Executive Officer. After opening the cupboard, it was found that of the 3,069 grams of gold ornaments donated by devotees, 38 ornaments weighing 2,423 grams were missing.

When Shivaram was questioned about the missing gold ornaments, he confessed that he was under severe financial problems and had taken loans from friends and other persons. Since he could not find any other way out, he used to take several gold chains donated by devotees from the cupboard and pledge them with various financial institutions, including the Kollur Society, the SCDCC Bank and Krishna Finance in Kollur, a finance society in Areshiroor, Krishna Society and Muthoot Finance in Byndoor, and at the Kundapur branches of SCDCC Bank and Muthoot Finance.

He used the money thus received for consumption of alcohol and to lead a life of ease. He also told the police that he had kept some of the gold items at his home. The police then recovered 382 gram gold necklace studded with red and green gems estimated to cost Rs. 6 lakh, a gold pendant of 22 grams estimated at Rs. 60,000 and a golden lotus with green gems of 217 grams estimated at Rs. 5.85 lakh, from his house.

Shivaram was produced before a court in Kundapur, which remanded him in judicial custody till March 3. The police are yet to recover the gold ornaments pledged by Shivaram at financial institutions in Byndoor, Areshiroor and Kundapur. Investigation is on to establish if Shivaram had any accomplices to help in siphoning off jewellery belonging to the temple, the police said.