Finally temple admin hands over 'God's' vehicle to lone bidder

The famed Guruvayur Sree Krishna temple on Tuesday decided to hand over the Mahindra Group gifted brand new SUV limited edition of its latest variant of Thar - a 4 wheel drive, which was received as a gift, to the lone bidder who won the auction last week.

Thiruvananthapuram: The famed Guruvayur Sree Krishna temple on Tuesday decided to hand over the Mahindra Group gifted brand new SUV limited edition of its latest variant of Thar - a 4 wheel drive, which was received as a gift, to the lone bidder who won the auction last week.

Incidentally, the auction was announced on last Saturday and the base price was also fixed as Rs 15 lakh and when the auction commenced, there was only one bidder Amal Mohammed Ali whose agent Subhash Panicker had come for the auction.

Panicker put his bid at Rs 15,10,000 with none else registered for the auction, hence was won by Ali.

Thereafter a confusion arose as to what if the price was less. Responding to this, president of the Temple board K.V. Mohandas said that the final decision will be made by the director of the board. However, on Tuesday it was decided to hand over the vehicle to Ali.

Incidentally, when Mohandas said the board had to decide, Panicker had threatened legal action.

The brand new red colour Thar was handed over to the management of the temple last month. Even as initially, Mohandas, said they might use the vehicle for their needs, but it was later decided to put it up for auction.

Amal, a businessman in Bahrain, wanted to gift this 'God's vehicle' to his son who turned 21 and the agent had come willing to bid a maximum of Rs 21 lakh.

Incidentally, after the auction was done, it turned out to be a big news, with the temple board having received numerous enquiries if the auction could be held online but by then it was too late.