M A I N   N E W S

rescue mission
tribune team at epicentre
Victims’ jewellery missing, shrine donation boxes empty
Ajay Banerjee/TNS

Kedarnath, June 24
As the unprecedented rains turned Kedarnath into a ghost town with bodies strewn all over, a ‘gold rush’ in the holy town is sending shivers down the spine.

Cash and gold offerings at the shrine are missing and so is personal jewellery, including anklets and gold bangles, of several of the deceased. In some cases, fingers have been chopped off to remove rings. The local police have arrested some persons who tried to flee with the cash.

All agencies working on the ground have confirmed the shameless ‘gold rush’. Pilots of the Army Aviation wing and the Indian Air Force have reported people refusing evacuation to make a ‘quick buck’ off the dead. Special Forces of the Indian Army, which have been looking for survivors, have tried to warn the human scavengers, but to no avail.

DIG Amit Prasad of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), which has also sent its rescue teams, confirmed tell-tale signs of scavengers. “Donation boxes at Kedarnath have been broken into and emptied. We have informed the local police,” he said.

The local police’s Division Range DIG AK Sinha confirmed that a man in the robes of a sadhu was nabbed with Rs 87 lakh belonging to the State Bank of India’s branch at Kedarnath. Another man was caught with Rs 83 lakh while others have been caught with smaller sums and gold ornaments. The temple, managed by the Sri Badrinath-Kedranath Temple Committee, opens in April-May for summer depending upon an auspicious time carefully calculated by the religious men. It is during this period that the idol of Lord Shiva is installed in the shrine. In winter, it is taken down and installed at Ukhimath. This year, the Kedarnath shrine opened on May 14 and Badrinath on May 16. The shrine usually remains open till November, but the number of devotees decreases in the monsoon.

Collections run into crores each year and nearly Rs 9-Rs 10 crore is declared each year. Apart from cash, devotees offer gold as well. As this was the peak season owing to summer vacations, donations to the shrine were bound to be high. The cast iron collection boxes are usually emptied under tight security and the contents deposited in the bank. Divisional Commissioner, Garhwal Division, Subhardhan said, “Thieves have been making attempts. The local district magistrate is a member of the temple committee, but he does not enjoy administrative control over it.”

As estimated, 10,000 pilgrims were at Kedarnath when catastrophe struck. Lakshman Singh, an ITBP assistant sub-inspector and eyewitness, said, “There were 10,000-12,000 persons at the shrine when the catastrophe struck on June 16. With the administration is yet to arrive at a death toll, it is anybody’s guess what thieves have fled with in terms of gold jewellery.”

Kedarnath’s tales of greed

• DIG Amit Prasad of the ITBP said donation boxes at Kedarnath have been broken into and emptied
• The local police’s Division Range DIG AK Sinha confirmed that a man in the robes of a sadhu was nabbed with Rs 87 lakh belonging to the SBI’s Kedarnath branch
• Another man was caught with Rs 83 lakh while others have been caught with smaller sums and gold ornaments
• Jewellery, including anklets and gold bangles, of several of the deceased is missing; in some cases, fingers have been chopped off to remove rings