Anonymous devotee offers 20 gold bars in Tirumala temple 'hundi'

A devotee donated 20 gold biscuits weighing 2 kg on Saturday to the shrine of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala Hills in Andhra Pradesh's Tirupati. The gold bars were found when Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams which governs the ancient hill temple was counting the day's collection deposited in the offering box.

Tirupati: An unidentified devotee has offered 20 gold biscuits to the shrine of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala Hills, near here, a top official of the temple said on Sunday.

The gold biscuits weighing 2 kg were found in the 'hundi' (offering box) on Saturday, when the day's collection was being counted, Executive Officer of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Anil Kumar Singhal said.

The TTD governs the ancient hill temple. The total cash offerings amounted to Rs 16.7 crore during the last one month after the shrine reopened on June 11 following the coronavirus lockdown, Singhal said.

About 2.5 lakh devotees thronged the shrine during the month, he said.

Meanwhile, about 67,000 devotees, who had booked tickets online for worship, did not visit the temple for different reasons, including COVID-19 related issues, Singhal said.

As many as 91 TTD staff members in the hills have tested positive for the virus so far after tests were conducted on 3,569 employees, he added.

PTI