Looted from the house of God
Narayana Swami, a beautiful hilltop temple in Gonipura village, has a sorry tale to tell
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| The view from the hilltop temple is breathtaking. |
By Rajnandini Ghosh
BANGALORE (Oct. 11)—Since morning the sky had been overcast. A cool breeze was blowing. It seemed like just the right weather to go for a short trek.
It was a Sunday—the only day of the week in Indian Institute of Journalism & New Media when we have time to breathe.
I put on my walking shoes, applied sunscreen lotion and left hostel with a backpack stuffed with water and something to munch on.
It took me about an hour to reach the hilltop.
It took me about an hour to reach the foothill. About 50 stairs would take me to the hilltop where the temple stands.
The view from the hilltop was breathtaking. One could see the fields spread out, way below, like a green carpet.
I walked into the temple, offered my prayers. I wanted to donate something to the deity and that’s when it struck me the temple safe was missing.
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The safe lying outside, broken and looted |
Confused, I walked out and there it was! The safe was lying outside, broken.
I rushed back to ask the priest what had happened. The priest seemed unperturbed. He told me the safe was stolen about two months ago and  150,000 was looted.
The temple filed a complaint with the Talkatpura Police Station, and the thief was arrested and is now behind bars.
But the money could not be recovered.
It was intriguing that someone would take the trouble to climb up to the temple and break open the safe and steal all the money. How did he know it had so much cash? Was he someone from the temple itself? Was it in an inside job?
I reached the Talkatpura Police Station to clear my doubts.
Investigator Krishnamurthy there told me that Venkataramanappa, a local guy, was responsible for the theft and was in Bangalore Central Jail.
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The priest in charge of the temple; the deity worshiped with hopes galore
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The priest said he suspected no one of foul play.
What was amazing was that it had been more than two months now that the theft had taken place; the broken safe hadn’t been replaced.
Temples in India are run by trusts that are responsible for managing all the money that comes in.
The local people were offering cash to the deity that day. In absence of a new safe, there wasn’t any arrangement to keep the money safe. I saw a priest put all the money in his pocket—something highly irregular.
“Who manages all this cash”? I asked. The priest seemed annoyed and chose not to answer.
My short trek to the Narayana Swami temple was an interesting experience. It left me with a lot of thoughts to ponder on, though.
It is sad that no one was found accountable for the looted 150,000, which was the hard-earned money of the villagers, offered to the deity, in hope of their prayers being answered.
Despite such a loss, neither the police nor the temple authorities have bothered to replace the safe or add extra security measures for the temple’s safety.
It is a shame that even a place like a temple is not spared from the corruption that prevails in the city.
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