It seems the lid has finally been lifted on can of worms. What promises to snowball into major controversy, India’s richest temple, Tirupati Balaji is caught in crossfire between temple administration and temple’s head priest. Ramana Deekshitulu, head priest of Tirupati accused temple’s governing board of financial irregularities and misappropriating or ‘losing’ priceless ancient jewelry. He has since been sacked.

Temples in India are under State control and instead of being autonomous bodies run by those who are involved with the temple, administration is often in the hand of State appointed trustees or board members.

Deekshitulu has accused the temple administration of not maintaining updated temple jewelry inventory and has alleged that temple funds are being used for questionable purposes by the state. Deekshitulu has also alleged that ornaments donated by Raja Krishnadeva Raya are also missing. Andhra Pradesh Government has struck back denying any wrong doing and has tried its best to gag temple head priest turned whistle blower.

Most activists and observers who have been fighting for independence of Hindu temples are saying that this is just a tip of the ice berg. Once investigation is done, they allege that shocking details of missing jewelry and money will be unearthed.

Prominent Indic activist and lawyer, J Sai Deepak had this to say on the alleged Tirupati theft:

1. #TirupatiControversy is just the tip of the iceberg. Massive loot of Temple assets and properties is pervasive in TN, AP, Telangana, Karnataka and Kerala. https://t.co/ihXMytFBBv

— Sai Deepak J (@jsaideepak) May 21, 2018

5. Has the TTD been undertaking periodic audit of the Temple's assets including the jewels? Shouldn't an independent audit be undertaken under the supervision of the Andhra Pradesh High Court? #TirupatiControversy

— Sai Deepak J (@jsaideepak) May 21, 2018

You can find his entire thread here: https://twitter.com/jsaideepak/status/998524981549174785

The full text of the priest’s press conference can be found here. Opindia published it here.