Shillong, August 24: A substantial offering of Rs 100 crore was placed in the ‘hundi’ at the Sri Varahalakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple in Simhachalam by a devoted individual.
However, as per IANS, astonishment rippled through the temple administration when they sent the cheque to the affiliated bank and discovered that the devotee’s account balance stood at a mere Rs 17.
The cheque, bearing the signature of Boddepalli Radhakrishna, came into the public eye through social media channels on a Thursday. It emerged that the devotee had omitted the date on the cheque, which was linked to Kotak Mahindra Bank. The document revealed the devotee as an account holder at the bank’s Visakhapatnam branch.
Upon the temple officials discovering the cheque within the Hundi, it was promptly presented to the Executive Officer. Detecting an anomaly, the Officer instructed officials to verify with the bank branch whether the cheque was indeed for Rs 100 crore. The bank authorities subsequently informed the temple administration that the individual who issued the cheque had only Rs 17 in their account.
As a course of action, the temple authorities are contemplating communication with the bank to ascertain the identity of the contributor. Sources indicate that if the intention behind the donation was to defraud the temple, the authorities might request the bank to initiate a case of a bounced cheque.
The incident sparked intriguing discussions on the Internet. While some online users suggested that the man might have incurred the displeasure of the divine through his actions, others proposed the notion that the sizeable offering could be seen as an advance payment for divine intervention.
Situated on the Simhachalam hill in the port city, the Sri Varahalakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple stands as one of Andhra Pradesh’s renowned religious sites.