Devotee accidentally drops iPhone worth Rs 1 Lakh in temple hundi; authorities call it 'offering to God'

They, however, ‘magnanimously’ offered to allow the transfer of his phone data, saying only the phone and not the data inside belongs to the temple.

Dinesh told TNIE that when the authorities opened the hundi on Thursday, and though they found the iPhone, they refused to return it, saying, anything that is offered to the deity cannot be returned as per “temple rules”. (Representative image)

CHENNAI: A couple, carrying a baby, is making an offering in a temple hundi; to their shock, the baby falls into the offering box; when approached, the temple authorities refuse to give the baby back, claiming whatever is there in the hundi is an offering to god. These are the scenes from a 2000 Tamil flick – Palayathu Amman.

At times, reel life comedies will come true, as is the case with D Dinesh, a devotee from Vinayakapuram in Ambattur who visited Tiruporur Kandasamy temple three months ago. In place of the baby, his iPhone Pro, worth Rs 1 lakh, fell into the hundi. And, the temple authorities have the same answer: Whatever falls in the hundi is an offering to god.

For some inexplicable reasons, Dinesh did not report it to the temple authorities soon after the incident. He apparently approached them 10 days later and explained what had happened.

Dinesh told TNIE that when the authorities opened the hundi on Thursday, and though they found the iPhone, they refused to return it, saying, anything that is offered to the deity cannot be returned as per “temple rules”. They, however, ‘magnanimously’ offered to allow the transfer of his phone data, saying only the phone and not the data inside belongs to the temple.

A senior temple official acknowledged the incident. However, the official quoted other devotees, who were present on the temple premises at the time, as saying that Dinesh dropped the mobile voluntarily but later had a change of mind.