Padmanabhaswamy temple petitioner is no more

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Former IPS officer T P Sundararajan, 70, a Supreme Court lawyer who was instrumental in bringing the fabulous riches of Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple under public scrutiny, died here on Sunday.He was living at Saranagathi, West Fort, near the ancient temple.Sundararajan had been running 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.Consequent examination of the temple vaults revealed the presence of priceless wealth in the form of gold ornaments and coinage, sparking worldwide interest in Thiruvananthapuram and also a debate as to what to do with the wealth.Rumour mills went abuzz soon after Sundararajan’s death, with the local people fearing that he had invited the wrath of God upon himself by going to court to get the wealth assessed.They also cited several legends of the old temple vaults that bodes ill for anybody who dared to open them.However, his family rubbished such stories saying that Sundararajan had been ill for the past two days.The former Supreme Court lawyer had also declined his family’s offer to move him to a hospital.“He left this world with extreme gratification that his efforts had yielded results,’’ said his nephew, who is Sundararajan’s namesake.Till his end, he had remained firm on his conviction that the temple wealth should be subjected to proper scrutiny.Sundararajan belonged to the 1964 batch of IPS officers.He served in the Central Intelligence Bureau during Indira Gandhi’s prime ministership.Later, he put in his papers and returned home to care for his ailing father T K Padmanabha Iyer.