Man who got Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple riches revealed dies

source:TNN Jul 18, 2011, 02.59am IST

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Advocate TP Sunderarajan, the 1964-batch IPS officer whose legal intervention led to the stock-taking of Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple's colossal assets, died on Sunday, spurring talks of "divine retribution" among the believers.

The 70-year-old passed away at about 12.45am at his brother's home around 30 metres from the shrine's west entrance. 

A family source said Sunderarajan, who was otherwise in good health, was uneasy and feverish for the last two days.

 On Saturday evening, he complained of wheezing and said he would not last until Sunday morning.

 He refused to take any medicine or go to a hospital. "At about 12.45am on Sunday, he said he wanted to go to the toilet, but collapsed before he could step in," a family source said.

While some said his sudden death was divine retribution, others asserted he was not put through any suffering of old age. 

Stories of how tragedy had befallen those who entered the shrine, too, did the rounds during the day, but these could not be confirmed.

Source :Truthdive :

July 18, 2011 – 9:13 pm  By Ayyappa Prasad 

Thiruvanthapuram,July 18: The remains of the man who petitioned the Supreme Court for an inventory of Sri Padmanabha Swamy temple assets was cremated. Media persons were the only people who gathered to report the `event’ to immediate relatives and a priest of nearby temple.

The neighbours of the `agraharam’ (place where only Brahmins stay) where T P Sundarajan the 70- year old advocate and chronic bachelor lived stayed away from the funeral since they hated him for leading the cops and court officials to enter the temple to open the vaults.

Unanimously all of the residents including the youngsters felt that the sanctity of the temple was gone by the adamant stance of the advocate who had benefitted from the largesse of the Royal family.

The body was cremated at Puthankotta where Brahmins are cremated at the place run by Brahmin association at Karmana in the city. 

This was where actor Srividya was cremated.

The nephew of Sunderajan who is also an advocate said that he would continue the fight of his uncle and that he died as a happy man of having achieved his goal.

 The neighbours feel that he invited the wrath of the deity even though he himself used to visit the temple at least five times. His food was the nivedyam (food offered to deity and then distributed to devotees).

He was living at Saranagathi, West Fort, near the ancient temple.Sundararajan had been running of high fever for the past two days, family sources said.

He died at 12.45 am on Sunday. 

The cremation was held later in the day.Sundararajan,a bachelor, had come into spotlight after moving the Supreme Court that the wealth of the famed temple should be assessed.

Sundararajan belonged to the 1964 batch of IPS officers.Heserved in the CBI during Indira Gandhi’s tenure as PM.

Later,he put in his papers and returned home to care for his ailing father T K Padmanabha Iyer.

Source:The New Indian Express: Jul 18, 2011 at 11:05am IST

The alley that led to the western entrance of the Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple looked deserted on Sunday afternoon, except for a few vehicles, including those that had come to the nearby police control room. 

But only a few moments ago, the alley was crowded with people and the media who had thronged the place hearing about the demise of the controversial man who was instrumental in bringing out the greatest hidden wealth that the country has ever seen; advocate T P Sundararajan.

Sundararajan, who died around 12.45 am on Sunday, was cremated with religious ceremonies at the crematorium at Puthankotta, near Manacaud, around 12.30 pm.

The crowd that gathered outside his residence disappeared soon after his body was taken to the crematorium. 

An unmoved priest at a small temple adjacent to Sundararajan’s residence piously performed the rituals, even while the body was being taken to the crematorium. 

Talking to City Express, the neighbours of the former IPS officer took the opportunity to vent out their anger against him for calling in the attention of the whole world to the temple’s immense wealth. Many believed that it was the wrath of the Lord that Sundararajan invited through his legal ventures that had brought about his unexpected demise.

"His fate was foretold,’’ was the response of Sundaram, a typist living in the same ‘Agraharam’. ‘’We all knew that that there was immense wealth stored in the chambers inside the temple. But his a adamant stand has put the safety of the wealth in uncertainty. The sanctity of the temple was also lost after police and armed personnel were deployed in and around the temple,’’ he said.

His neighbours remember him as an extremely devout man who would visit the temple four or five times a day. ‘’He was a man who would go to the time five times daily. He subsisted on the ‘nivedyam’ offered by the temple,’’ says Giri Neelakantan, a neighbour.

Hari, an employee at a new generation bank, residing right opposite to the residence of Sundararajan, said that he was fit as a fiddle until a few days before his death, implying the possibility of divine intervention in his death.

However, Sundararajan’s family rubbished all such claims. 

The advocate’s nephew, also named Sundararajan, told City Express that his uncle was ailing from fever for the past two days.

The repeated requests of the family to move him to a hospital was dismissed by the former Supreme Court advocate.

"He has left this world with extreme gratification, as his efforts had yielded results,’’ he added.

The ‘sanchayanam’ ceremony of Sundararajan will be held on Monday.

Source:The New Indian Express: Jul 19, 2011 at 09:41am IST

The unexpected death of Advocate T P Sunder Rajan seems to have intensified the demand for holding a ‘Deva Prasnam’ before opening the ‘B vault’ in the Padmanabha Swamy Temple. 

The demand raised by the Travancore royal family before the Supreme Court found new supporters on Sunday and Monday.

�‘’All the property of the temple belongs to Lord Padmanabha. Before touching those assets, we must obtain the permission of the Lord. For that the only way is to conduct a ‘deva prasnam’,’’ said Gopalakrishnan Potty, former ‘Periya Nambi’ of the temple. He said gold was one of the favourite offerings of the Lord and that might be how so much gold and jewels accumulated in the temple. Devotees who know about the preference of the Lord, had placed gold and jewels as their offering on his feet.

�Vasthu acharya K Muraleedharan Nair, who is the president of Vasthu Sasthra Vigjana Peedam, said it would be better if those who venture out to open the vaults do a rethink. ‘’It is ideal that we keep the B vault locked. The treasures stored in that vault, which is below the Head of the deity, are protected by taming micro natural forces. Tantric experts who kept it safe their might have done this. If one dares to open that vault, it will trigger a series of troubles,’’ warned Nair.

�‘’It will be foolish to open the lock of B vault using a gas cutter,’’ he added. �

�Those who listed the bad omens that became visible after the whole episode began said the mother of one of the observers died and the leg of another observer got injured after the operation began. ‘’Everybody in the temple knows this old story of the ill fate of the three persons who ventured to open one of the vaults a few years ago. All of them died within months,’’ said Nair.

�According to him, the concept of ‘Perumal (the Emperor)’ is what takes Padmanabha Swamy, Tirupathi Venkitachalapathi and Sree Ranganathan to a different league. Emperors are used to be fond of gold and jewels and so do Gods who take the Perumal form. ‘’There is an invaluable treasure of jewels kept inside the Sree Ranga temple in Tamil Nadu. It is an offering by the Chola and Chera kings,’’ said Nair. Same is the case with Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam.

�There are interesting anecdotes about Lord Padmanabha’s penchant for gold.

‘’One day I placed a new gold ring given by a devotee at the feet of the deity for ‘pooja’. While I was doing ‘pooja’, it disappeared. I frantically searched for it, but couldn’t find it anywhere. I broke down as my integrity would have been questioned by the devotee. I prayed hard and wept on His feet. After some time, the ring came back to the spot where I had originally placed it,’’ said a priest who had earlier served at the temple.

�Old people around the Fort recall myths such as opening the B vault would prove disastrous as it would trigger a flood.

Though rationalists claim that these myths were planted as deterrents to protect the wealth of the temple, believers stick on to them.