Indian chief priest sentenced to jail in Singapore for pawning temple jewellery
Singapore (PTI): The 39-year-old Indian chief priest of Singapore's oldest Hindu temple was sentenced to six years in jail on Tuesday for pawning over SGD 2 million (USD 1.5 million) of ceremonial jewellery repeatedly from a prominent temple, according to a media report.
Kandasamy Senapathi was employed by the Hindu Endowments Board as a priest at Sri Mariamman Temple in the downtown Chinatown district from December 2013 until he resigned on March 30, 2020.
He pleaded guilty to two charges of criminal breach of trust by dishonest misappropriation and two charges of transferring criminal proceeds out of the country, Channel News Asia reported. Another six charges were considered in sentencing, it said.
Senapathi, an Indian national, was caught when the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020, throwing the regular audit timing off and revealing the missing jewellery.
In 2014, he was entrusted with the keys and combination number code to the safe in the temple's holy sanctum, which contained 255 pieces of gold jewellery owned by the temple, with a book value of about SGD 1.1 million.
Senapathi began pawning pieces of the jewellery in 2016, taking them to pawn shops and later redeeming them by using money he obtained from pawning other pieces of temple jewellery.
In 2016 alone, Senapathi pawned 66 pieces of gold jewellery from the temple on 172 occasions, the report said.
He continued this practice between 2016 and 2020, redeeming all the jewellery and returning it to the temple without anyone knowing whenever an audit was scheduled. Once the audit was completed, he would pawn the jewellery again to return the borrowed money.
Senapathi got SGD 2,328,760 from pawn shops between 2016 to 2020, of which he deposited some into his bank account and remitted about SGD 141,000 to India.
In March 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore, the temple had to delay an external audit because of the "circuit breaker" measures forbidding non-essential activity in the country.
During the June 2020 audit, Senapathi told a member of the temple finance team he did not have the key to the safe and said he had likely left the key in India while visiting family. However, when the staff member insisted that the audit be done, Senapathi eventually confessed that he had taken the jewellery for pawning.
In the end, all the jewellery was returned to the temple, and the temple suffered no loss, the prosecutor said.
The member of the temple's finance team later filed a police report.
Senapathi resigned from his post as he felt guilty for pawning the temple's jewellery, added the prosecutor, who asked for seven years' jail, pointing to the high pawn value of the jewellery involved.
Defence lawyer Mohan Das Naidu said it all started when Senapathi wanted to help a friend raise funds for cancer and to help schools and temples in India.
He said Senapathi's intention was "never to deprive the temple" of its jewellery, but he was "caught up in this vicious cycle of pawning and redeeming, pawning and redeeming".
In sentencing, the judge said he could not ignore that the case involved about SGD 2 million, a significant amount and higher than any previous similar cases.
In a statement after the hearing, the Hindu Endowments Board (HEB) said it had commissioned a gold audit after the incident at its four temples - Sri Mariamman, Sri Srinivasa Perumal, Sri Sivan and Sri Vairavimada Kaliamman.
The audit confirmed that all jewellery was adequately accounted for. An expert goldsmith also certified that the jewellery Senapathi had returned was authentic.
"HEB has further tightened its governance and internal controls to ensure its charitable assets remain protected," the report quoted the board as saying.
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Voting begins for 38 seats in 2nd phase of Jharkhand assembly polls
Ranchi (PTI): Polling for 38 assembly seats in the second and final phase of Jharkhand elections commenced on Wednesday, amid tight security arrangements, officials said.
Voting began at 7 AM in 14,218 booths across 12 districts and will continue till 5 PM.
However, polling in 31 booths will end at 4 PM though people standing in the queue at that time will be able to exercise their franchise, the officials said.
A total of 1.23 crore voters, including 60.79 lakh women and 147 third-gender electors, are eligible to exercise their franchise on Wednesday.
Altogether 528 candidates, including Chief Minister and JMM leader Hemant Soren, his wife Kalpana Soren and Leader of Opposition Amar Kumar Bauri of the BJP, are trying their luck in the second phase of the elections.
Taking to X, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "Today is the second and last phase of the great festival of democracy in Jharkhand. I urge all voters to participate in it enthusiastically and create a new record of voting. On this occasion, I especially congratulate all my young friends who are going to vote for the first time. Your every vote is the strength of the state."
Eighteen of the 38 constituencies are in the Santhal Pargana region comprising six districts - Godda, Deoghar, Dumka, Jamtara, Sahibganj and Pakur.
The remaining 18 seats are in the North Chotanagpur division and two in South Chotanagpur.
Of the total 14,218 polling stations, the responsibility of the entire voting process at 239 is in the hands of women and 22 are manned by persons with disabilities (PwDs), Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) K Ravi Kumar said.
The ruling JMM-led INDIA bloc is seeking to retain power riding on its welfare schemes, while the BJP-headed National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is trying to wrest it.
The first phase of elections was held on November 13, and the counting of votes will take place on November 23.
