Rs 26 lakh seized from Brahma temple in Pushkar

The death of the head priest of Pushkar’s Lord Brahma temple, one of the only temples dedicated to the four-faced-God, has exposed the large scale loot that is being carried out in temples of Rajasthan, reported India Today.

After the death of head priest Mahant Sompuri, in a road accident on January 21 this year, the Devasthan Vibhag (Government department for regulation of temples, charitable institutions and religious trusts), stepped in temporarily to manage the temple. Subsequently, the government body found irregularities in the amount of donations received by the temple.

The Devasthan-appointed panel found out that compared to the Rs 10 lakh reported as donations over three months before Sompuri’s demise, collections topped Rs 11 lakh in just three weeks after it took control. The ad hoc managing committee headed by the Ajmer Collector also recovered Rs 26 lakh in cash from two rooms in the temple,” reported India Today.

The report further said that such revelations have now triggered demands for greater state control and reforms in succession of ownership of Rajasthan’s private temples.