The joy of officials of Simhachalam Devasthanam in Visakhapatnam when they found a Rs 100-crore cheque in the temple’s hundi was short-lived as his bank balance turned out to be Rs 17.
On Wednesday, the temple authorities found the spurious cheque in the hundi during counting of offerings.
The cheque was signed by one Boddepalli Radhakrishna and issued through a corporate bank. The counting officials took the cheque to temple executive officer Trinadha Rao.
Temple authorities said on verification it was found that Radhakrishna had only Rs 17 in his bank account and his address could not be obtained. Temple authorities contacted the Kotak Bank branch at MVP colony for verification. It was revealed that the account from which the cheque was issued, held by Boddepalli Radhakrishna bearing account number 8313295434, had only Rs 17 to its name.
“This is nothing new for the temple. In the past cheques with fancy amounts were dropped in the hundi by the devotees,’’ the E O said.
Asked if a case of cheque bounce fraud would be filed against Radhakrishna, an official told Deccan Chronicle that the temple administration ignores such cases as they were given as donations.
Meanwhile, the hundi offerings counted on Wednesday amounted to Rs 1.49 crore, gathered over the past 16 days. The offerings also included nearly 80 grams of gold and 10 kg of silver.
With inputs from India Today
