Man accidentally drops iPhone in box at Tamil Nadu temple Why won't he get it back?

Chennai:

A man who accidentally dropped his iPhone in the prasad box at a temple in Tamil Nadu may not get his phone back.

The Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department politely declined his request saying that it had now become temple property.

An official said that under the Hundial Establishment, Security and Accounting Rules, 1975, all offerings made at the Hundial cannot be returned to the owner at any time, as they belonged to the temple, news agency PTI reported.

Temple officials said that since the phone has been taken as an offering, the iPhone owner can only recover the data.

Dinesh, whose phone had accidentally fallen, contacted the Sri Kandaswamy Temple authorities in Thiruporur in Chengalpattu district and requested for the iPhone. The temple administration still rejected his request.

“Whatever is deposited in the offering box, even if it is an arbitrary act, goes to God's account,” said PK Shekhar Babu, minister of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department.

Mr Babu told reporters, “As per the practices and tradition of temples, any offering made at Hundiyal goes directly into the account of the deity of that temple. The rules do not allow the administration to return the offerings to devotees. “

He said, however, that he would discuss with department officials whether there was any possibility of giving compensation to the devotee.

The minister said this after inspecting the construction of the Arulmigu Mariamman temple at Madhavaram and the renovation of a temple tank belonging to the Arulmigu Kailashnathar temple at Venugopal Nagar.

iPhone accidentally fell into the temple's hundi…

The temple administration refused to return it to the owner, claiming it belonged to the temple.pic.twitter.com/4VgfcRk0Ib

– Vije (@vijeshetty) 20 December 2024

This incident is not the first such incident in the state.

S Sangeetha, a devotee from Alappuzha, Kerala, accidentally dropped her 1.75 gold chain in the hundiyal of Sri Dhanadayuthapani Swamy temple in Palani in May 2023. When he took off the Tulsi garland from his neck to offer Prasad, it fell into the Hundiyal. ,

Considering his financial background and after confirming through CCTV footage that the chain had fallen accidentally, the Chairman of the Temple Board of Trustees purchased a new gold chain of the same value at his personal expense and gave it to him.