Action on Kaleshwaram temple staff over CM donated sari theft

The endowment department has taken serious note of irregularities in temples, including the theft of a sari donated by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao from the Kaleshwaram temple in 2016, and cracked down on some employees including a superintendent.

Endowment additional Commissioner E. Srinivas Rao has issued orders to initiate disciplinary action initiated against Kaleshwaram temple superintendent and former executive officer B. Srinivas, senior assistant U. Uma Maheshwar Rao and other employees for the theft of the sari.

The famous temples at Basar, Dharmapuri and the Mukhtheshwara Swamy in Kaleshwaram in Bhupalapalli district are in the news in recent days for the wrong reasons. 

Recently, endowment officials issued memos to three members of the Basar temple in Nirmal on the charges of irregularities. There are also allegations of irregularities in activities in the Dharmapuri temple in Jagtial district.  

The endowment department transferred Dharmapuri Laxmi Narasimha Swamy temple executive officer Nayini Supriya for not giving accounts during an audit for `6 lakh worth diamond gold bangles offered to the deity by a devotee. 

The endowment department took serious note of Kaleshwaram temple superintendent B. Srinivas conducting a press meet and levelling allegations and demanding `80,000 for personal expenses. Board trustee chairman B. Venkatesham of the Kaleshwaram temple termed the allegations political. The endowment department considered the press conference to be against the code of conduct for a government employee which had hampered the image of the temple. 

The issue of missing a silk sari offered to Goddess Parwati by the Chief Minister at the Kaleshwaram temple came to light on July 21. The temple authorities had first denied the incident. However, an inquiry was subsequently conducted where it was found the sari that the officials had submitted was not the one donated by Mr Chandrasekhar Rao.

It is learnt that an employee working in the temple had stolen the sari from the storeroom; the Chief Minister had offered the sari on June 2, 2016, to fulfil the vow in connection with the state formation by the KCR with wife on June 2, 2016.

It is said that an employee had been caught on CCTV cameras stealing the sari. He had replaced the original with another sari brought from Warangal to cover up the crime.