MADURAI: Perusing a sealed report submitted by retired HC judge RS Ramanathan, who had been appointed to look into allegations of missing jewels and a golden Sivalinga in the Adhikesava temple in Thiruvattar, Kanniyakumari, the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court told the Registry to share copies of the above report to the petitioner and the officials concerned and granted them time till February 18 to go through the report for their response.
A bench of justices G Jayachandran and KK Ramakrishnan was hearing a PIL filed by Sree Adhikesava Seva Trust, represented by its secretary N Thangappan, in 2023, seeking direction to place the said Sivalinga, the jewels, and other idols in the temple premises for worship.
According to the petition, the temple authorities are not keeping the gold ornaments, armour, and old kalasams in the temple for public viewing.
Despite various directions issued by the HC, the authorities have not recovered the gold ornaments that were stolen from the temple and later found and kept in the custody of the lower court, he added.
Since the HR&CE authorities failed to fulfill a direction issued by the court to furnish the lists of jewels available before the 1992 theft and the list of jewels present as of today and the jewels available in the Judicial Magistrate II, Padmanabhapuram, the high court appointed Justice Ramanathan as a commissioner on October 18, 2024, to inquire into the issue and also file a report along with the above list after due verification of the jewels by a certified appraiser.