VIJAYAWADA: A day after Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu pulled up the Durga Temple Trust Board over a silk saree worth Rs 18,000 offered to the goddess by a group of devotees from Undavalli being stolen on Sunday, in-charge endowments commissioner and temple executive officer M Padma on Tuesday submitted a preliminary report to the government pointing fingers at trust board member K Surya Latha.
According to sources, Padma spoke to One Town Police before submitting the report.
The EO has reportedly stated that though Latha was not visible in the CCTV footage, temple priest Shankara Sandilya had revealed that she instructed temple staffers to put the silk saree in her carry bag. She has also recommended action against the trust board member, but requested that a police case not be filed as it would be “a blot on the temple’s image”. Trust Board chairman Gouranga Babu said Naidu had expressed dissatisfaction over action not being initiated against the guilty. In this regard, a memo has been served on Surya Latha on charges of taking away the silk saree.
Latha has also been asked not to enter the temple premises until the issue was sorted out. “Surya Latha has opposed the memo and asked me to convene a trust board meeting immediately to discuss the issue. I refused to comply with her request and said a meeting could be held only after the inquiry was completed. Going by what the priest said... I too suspect Surya Latha is guilty,” Gouranga Babu said.
Surya Latha, however, continues to claim innocence. “Was it wrong on my part to accept the saree offered by devotees of Venu Gopala Swamy Temple for providing them a hassle-free darshan of the Goddess? How can I be faulted even as the EO and trust board chairman are felicitated by devotees? I believe this is a conspiracy to tarnish my image. And how can Gouranga Babu serve me a memo based on a statement given by Shankara Sandilya?” she said and added that she had not been served any suspension order.
Uppu Suryanarayana, who donated the saree, said he feels the management had doctored the CCTV footage released on Monday evening. “We want a transparent inquiry into the incident. We want to know where the saree offered by us went,’’ he said.
In trouble?
The EO has reportedly stated that though Latha was not visible in the CCTV footage, temple priest Shankara Sandilya had revealed that she instructed temple staffers to put the silk saree in her carry bag.