Giving a new twist to the allegations of missing jewellery belonging to Lord Venkateshwara of Tirumala, power star and Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan on Thursday suspected that the jewellery might have been smuggled to Middle East countries.
It was only on Wednesday that retired head priest of Tirumala temple A V Ramana Deekshitulu expressed suspicion that the jewellery of the god and other wealth unearthed from underground of the temple kitchen might have been smuggled to Singapore, which he said was a haven for illegal trade of antique jewellery.
He also expressed doubts over the sudden tour of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams joint executive officer Srinivasa Raju to Singapore and said it could be to replace original ornaments of the Lord with duplicate ones.
Recalling his meeting with a senior IPS officer in Hyderabad a few years ago, Pawan Kalyan said the officer had revealed an interesting fact.
The jewellery of the Tirumala was taken to a Middle East country in a private aeroplane. Even the TDP leaders, who were in opposition then, were aware of it, he said.
“That is why Ramana Deekshitulu’s allegations on missing jewellery were no surprise to me. The robbers might have thought Lord Balaji is mute and it is okay to rob him,” Pawan said.
About Lord Balaji’s missing pink diamond, Pawan expressed surprise how a diamond could be broken into pieces by throwing coins at the ornament.
“The answers given by the state government are not satisfactory. Why don’t they recreate a scene with forensic experts how the pink diamond has become fragments and gone missing because a devotee threw coins at Swamy. For sure, we get to know the facts,” he said.
