TIRUPATI: A 42-year-old drunk man sneaked into the Sri Govindaraja Swamy temple, located in the heart of the temple city of Tirupati, around midnight on Friday and tried to break the Kalasams on one of the Gopurams inside the TTD temple, exposing glaring lapses in temple security.The man, identified as Kuthadi Thirupathi, a resident of Peddamallareddy village in Nizamabad district of Telangana, had relocated to Tirupati with his family and works as a daily-wage construction labourer.After getting heavily drunk, Thirupathi mingled with other devotees and entered the Govindaraja Swamy temple on Friday night. After some time, he managed to mount the Nadimi Gopuram and tried to break the Kalasams on the Gopuram using a big stick.The TTD vigilance and security guards, who spotted the suspicious man on top of the Nadimi Gopuram and his attempts to break the Kalasams, immediately alerted the higher-ups in the vigilance and security department, who in turn alerted the Tirupati East police and the local fire services personnel.Tirupati east police sleuths and the fire services personnel reached the Govindaraja Swamy temple premises and mounted the Gopuram with the help of ladders and after a three hour long hiatus, they managed to bring down Thirupathi from the Gopuram and took him into their custody and shifted him to the Tirupati east police station for questioning. Confirming the shocking developments, TTD issued a press release stating that a person identified as Thirupathi entered the Govindaraja Swamy temple by mingling with other devotees on Friday night. “He then managed to mount the Nadimi Gopuram by getting on top of a makeshift tent. The vigilance guards noticed his suspicious activities and immediately alerted the police and fire services departments. The police personnel reached the Govindaraja Swamy temple and took him into custody and registered a case”, TTD authorities clarified. Even as the incident sent shockwaves across the state on Friday, Tirupati MP Dr M Gurumoorthy expressed dismay over the glaring security lapses at the TTD’s Govindaraja Swamy temple yet again.“This temple is located in the heart of Tirupati and is one of the biggest temples in the city. It is quite shocking as to what the TTD vigilance and security guards were doing when a suspicious man not only sneaked into the temple premises but mounted the Nadimi Gopuram and tried to break the Kalasams on the Gopuram”, Gurumoorthy wondered. “A few years ago, a thief sneaked into the same Govindaraja Swamy temple and decamped with crowns from the temple. Even after that shocking theft exposed the glaring security lapses, the TTD authorities appear to have not done enough to properly safeguard the temple by plugging the chinks in the security set up, which is evident from the manner in which a drunk man entered the temple premises on Friday night and tried to vandalise the Nadimi Gopuram”, Tirupati MP lamented.Demanding the Andhra Pradesh state govt and the TTD to order a detailed probe into the shocking incident reported at the Govindaraja Swamy temple on Friday night, Tirupati MP demanded stringent departmental action on all those responsible for the security lapses as well.
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