The headquarters of ancient Hathiramji Mutt on the busy Gandhi Road witnessed high drama on Monday when the officials of the Endowments Department took over its reins by breaking open the locked rooms in the presence of revenue officials. The incident happened even as the BJP leaders were staging a dharna outside demanding a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in the Mutt.
A brief lull followed the suspension of Arjun Das, the ‘Mahant’ of the Mutt, by the State government on charges of financial irregularities and nepotism last week, in whose place the Dharmika Parishat’s Commissioner appointed Srikahalasti temple Executive Officer C. Chandrasekhar Reddy as its in-charge. The team swung into action on Monday by breaking open the locked rooms and seizing important documents, purportedly pertaining to the Mutt’s invaluable properties. “We broke open the locked rooms in the presence of Tahsildar and revenue inspector and would inform the Dharmika Parishat Commissioner about the documents we have seized,” Mr. Chandrasekhar Reddy told the media.
BJP functionaries led by State spokesperson G. Bhanuprakash Reddy and secretary Samanchi Srinivas demanded that the government hand over the control of the Mutt to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD). It was the Mutt that controlled the Tirumala temple ahead of the TTD’s formation and it is only logical for the government to hand over its reins to the TTD, instead of the State directly meddling into its affairs, Mr. Srinivas said.
The Mutt has landholdings across the country, mostly in Mumbai city and Tirupati, most of which were encroached. “The huge properties received by the Mutt was only during its 90 years of golden era in maintaining Sri Venkateswara temple, which means the lands were donated only out of reverence to Lord Venkateswara. It is only logical that they belong to the TTD,” the BJP leaders reasoned.
