Devotee Caught Stealing from Tirumala Hundi, Arrested

A devotee from the world-famous Hindu temple located in Tirumala just outside Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh was caught stealing from the "Hundi", or, in other words, from the donation box.

Devotee Caught Stealing from Tirumala Hundi

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While the incident happened on November 23, it only came to light Tuesday after temple management reported the matter to the police.

The accused, named Venu Lingam, a resident of Tamil Nadu, who has been arrested. The police have recovered Rs15,000 from him.

The incident of theft took place on 23rd November at about 2.00 p.m. It was recorded by the CCTV camera and this got reported by the security staff after they detected the theft while scanning the footage.

The security personnel have taken the suspect in custody and from the interrogation, he confessed to stealing the money. A case in this regard was registered against him after the authorities from Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), which manages the hill shrine's affairs, filed a complaint to the police.

After that incident, the TTD stepped up security in the Hundi.

Thousand of devotees who visit every day to this temple known as the richest temple worldwide drop their cash and offerings in the Hundi.

The Hundi collection is the main source of income for the temple, which has a huge budget of over ₹5,000 crore. 

In January, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) approved a ₹5,141 crore budget for 2024-25. This is a big increase of over 16% compared to the previous year and is the highest budget since TTD started in 1933.

For this year, most of the income, around ₹1,611 crore, is expected to come from Hundi collections. Every day, the Hundi collections often go beyond ₹1 crore. The money is carefully counted by TTD officials at a place called Parakamani.

However, there have been some issues too. In April last year, a staff member at Parakamani was caught stealing US dollars worth ₹72,000 in Indian currency. The TTD vigilance team quickly filed a complaint, and the local police registered a case the same day. They even filed a charge sheet the next day. Later, the person was granted bail.