Bank staff divert ₹1.42 crore at Srisailam temple

Money from sale of tickets diverted, says EO

The Sri Bhramaramba Mallikarjuna Swamy temple management at Srisailam has detected diversion of ₹1.42 crore by the staff members employed by a bank on the temple premises for issuing tickets to devotees.

Temple Executive Officer Karanam S. Rama Rao told The Hindu on Monday that the temple management grew suspicious following a shortfall in the income from the Arjitha Sevas, Sheeghra Darshan and entry tickets and initiated an internal probe which revealed the fraud that had been going on for the past three years.

“The accused staff are not under the Endowments Department’s control but were employed by the bank for helping us with issuing tickets faster. A few of them found a way to tamper with the accounting software and diverted some money regularly for the past three years,” Mr. Rama Rao said.

Complaint lodged

Following the advice of the Endowments Commissioner and the Minister, a police complaint was lodged on Sunday, he said. “No arrests have been made so far and investigation is on,” he said. Efforts were on to recover the money and the bank authorities were told to initiate action against the accused, he added.

The State government wanted the Temple Management Service (TMS) software to be rectified by the time the temple would reopen after the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions were lifted, the EO said.