In a bizarre incident that gives a vibe matching to Akshay Kumar's OMG movie, where tragedy became an 'act of God'. The matter reported from a temple in Tamil Nadu is rather weird as one devotee dropped his iPhone into the temple's hundial (hundi) and as he demanded it back, the temple authorities refused by saying, 'it now belongs to God.' The incident occurred in Sri Kandaswamy temple, Thiruporur.
'iPhone is now temple property!'
The devotee identified as Dinesh told the temple authorities that he had dropped his iPhone inadvertently to the offering box while he was making a donation. In a response to his request to return the phone, the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department declined him and said it has now become temple property.
'Temple allowed to only take data from the phone'
On Friday morning, Dinesh was contacted by the temple administration and informed that his gadget was found in the hundial and he was free to retrieve only the data from it. However, Dinesh refused to accept and insisted that his phone be returned to him.
'anything in the box goes to God's account'. says TN minister
Speaking about this incident, HR & CE Minister PK Sekar Babu said that anything deposited in the box, even by mistake, goes into God's account. “Anything that is deposited into the offering box, even if it be an arbitrary action, goes into god’s account. As per the practises and tradition at the temples, any offerings made into the hundial directly goes into the account of the deity of that temple. Rules do not permit the administration to return the offerings back to the devotees,” Babu told reporters.
Minister further said he would discuss with the department officials to see if there was any possibility to compensate the devotee and accordingly make a decision.
This is not first such incident
Speaking on the matter, a senior HR & CE official told that this is not the first such case. In 2023, a devotee S Sangeetha from Alappuzha in Kerala unwittingly dropped her 1.75 sovereign gold chain into the hundial of the renowned Sri Dhandayuthapani Swamy temple in Palani.
She was not returned her original chain but the chairman of the temple board of trustees bought a new gold chain of same value at his personal expense and gave it to her.
Official further told that as per the Installation, Safeguarding and Accounting of Hundial Rules, 1975, none of the offerings made into the hundials can be returned to the owner at any point, as they belonged to the temple.
(With PTI inputs)
