The Supreme Court today directed its special committee of observers not to open the chamber B of the Sree Anantha Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram of Kerala till July 15 and asked the former Travancore royal family and the Kerala government to come out with proper suggestions to protect and preserve the sanctity and wealth of the ancient temple.

King Marthanda Varma, senior member of the erstwhile royal family, told the apex court that the treasure belonged to the God Sree Anantha Padmanabhaswamy and no body else can lay a claim over it.

“No member of our family is claiming any right over the temple wealth as it belonged to the temple and the God residing in it,” Raja Marthanda Varma told the judges through his counsel and senior advocate KK Venugopal.

The apex-court appointed observers have unearthed gold treasure from the five chambers of the temple cellars but one more chamber is yet to be opened. The estimated value of the gold treasure unearthed is put roughly at Rs.1 lakh Cr.

Security beefed up for the temple

The Kerala government today announced a budget of 1 Cr for the security of the temple and its wealth.

Finance Minister KM Mani said in the assembly that already three battalions of Kerala Armed Police and some commandos of the National Security Guards have taken over the security of the temple and more measures are being planned for the preservation of the temple and its wealth.

The government is also considering creating a special security zone around the temple and a decision will be taken soon after studying all related aspects, he said.