Guruvayur temple’s controversial Thar reauctioned for ₹43 lakh

A red limited edition Mahindra Thar, which courted controversy last year after it was won by a Bahrain-based Keralite in an auction held by the Sree Krishna temple in Guruvayur here was re-auctioned on Monday. This time, the winning bid of ₹43 lakh was made by a Malappuram-based devotee. Incidentally, in the auction held in December last year, the winning bid by NRI Amal Mohammed Ali was of only ₹15.10 lakh and he was the sole bidder. This time round, there were around 15 bidders and the limited edition SUV fetched nearly three-times what was bid last time. The base price of the vehicle was fixed at ₹15 lakh. The winner – Dubai-based businessman Vignesh Vijayakumar – had told his agent that the vehicle has to be won no matter the cost, his father told a TV channel.