Did Muslims steal 100 kg gold from a Tirumala Tirupati temple?
False claims about scam where 100 kg of gold vanishing from Sri Govindaraja Swamy temple’s Vimana Gopuram is doing rounds in social media.
Rating
Claim
100kg gold scam unearthed in #Tirumala In d name of gold plating Tirumala Sri Govindaraja Swamy temple vimana Gopuram, they vanished 100kgs of Balaji’s gold. Hindu orgs caught the “Muslim”employees🤷🏻♂️😡& handed them to vigilant officers & demanding investigation #noconversion
Explanation
Tirumala Sri Govindaraja Swamy Temple in Tirupati district of Andhra Pradesh belongs to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) which also has the famous Tirumala Temple which is touted to be one of the richest temples in the world, if not the richest, with a reported net worth of around 2.5 Lakh crore rupees. Several posts in social media are making a claim that a scam involving theft of around 100 kilograms of Gold took place in the temple’s vimana gopuram. The post also claims that Muslims were involved in the alleged scam.
Some social media posts blame the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s Government for the alleged scams. See here and here.
What’s the truth?
It was reported in 2021 by Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) board Chairman YV Subba Reddy that the Tirumala Sri Govindarajaswami temple’s Vimana Gopuram would be completely covered with gold using 100 kilograms of Gold with an expected finish date by mid-2022.
Now, a scam is alleged in social media with claims that 100 kgs of gold intended for the gold plating of the Vimana Gopuram had vanished, which forms the entire gold reserved for the project.
But, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam’s Assistant Executive Officer had come out with a video statement denying these claims. Further, the official Fact-Check wing of the Andhra Pradesh Government had tweeted the video and denied these claims, with a warning that action would be taken against those who spread this false claim.
No sub-contract has been given to the said person. But in the madness of publicity and spreading enmity between religious groups, the false claim of gold scam is being peddled.@TTDevasthanams will take legal action against the people spreading this fake propaganda. 1/4 https://t.co/J11eHpO6g8 pic.twitter.com/SEMtih4uh1
— FactCheck.AP.Gov.in (@FactCheckAPGov) April 18, 2023
In one of the tweets, the Andhra Pradesh Government’s Fact-Check division tweeted a video of Mrs.Jyothi, the contractor for the gold plating work being done in the temple. She had stated that she had not given the work as a sub-contract to anybody. She also stated that a friend of hers, who is a Muslim, came to the outside of her workplace to invite her for a wedding, but at that time she was not present at the workplace, where the gold plating work is being done.
Fact: A Muslim friend of the Gold Malam contactor Smt. Jyothi has come to give her the marriage invitation of his kin at the place where the workers engaged in Gold Malam works take rest, which is not located in the premises of Gold Malam Works. 4/4 pic.twitter.com/zy8jiw1kFO
— FactCheck.AP.Gov.in (@FactCheckAPGov) April 18, 2023
Conclusion
The claims that Muslims were involved in the gold plating work of Sri Govindarajaswamy Temple in Tirupati & Muslims stole 100 kgs of gold intended for the temple is false and baseless.
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There have been many such incidents where Muslims were blamed for a crime/wrongdoing when they were actually not involved in that particular incident. Some of such incidents are listed below.
- Was a temple priest attacked in Rajasthan? – Fact Check
- Pankaj Tripathi is the abuser. But social media users claim that he is a Muslim.
- A murder by Prince Yadav is spread with an insinuation that it was committed by a Muslim.
- A drunk Hindu teacher kicks the images of Gods. Right wingers claim a Muslim insulted Hindu Gods.
- Teenage boy’s murder is being used to create communal tension between Hindus and Muslims.
- Hindu Man poses as Muslim to create communal tensions.
- No, the video doesn’t show Birmingham temple burnt by Muslims or Hindus being beaten up.
- Did a Muslim stab ASI Shambhu Dayal in West Delhi?
- Yet another crime committed by a Hindu pinned on a Muslim man by social media users.
