Priest jailed for 6 years for mortgaging temple ornaments

An Indian priest has been sentenced to six years in prison in Singapore. Actually the priest of the temple was found guilty of embezzling money by mortgaging the ornaments of the temple. The priest had taken about 2 million Singapore dollars by pledging the ornaments of the temple. Indian-origin priest Kandasamy Senapati was appointed as the priest of the Sri Mariamman Temple under the Hindu Endowment Board of Singapore in 2013. Kandasamy resigned from his post on 30 March 2020 after the scam came to light.

Audit revealed
Kandasamy Senapati is an Indian citizen and the fraud committed by him came to light during the Corona Pandemic. Actually during Corona the temple committee decided to audit the property. It was in this audit that the fraud perpetrated by Kandasamy came to light. In the year 2014, the temple committee was given the keys and code number of the sanctum sanctorum of the temple. The temple’s treasury is kept in this sanctum, in which 255 pieces of gold jewelery are kept, which are worth about 1.1 million Singapore dollars.

According to media reports, Senapati started pledging jewelery in the year 2016 and continued till 2020 till the scam was unearthed. In 2016 alone, Senapati had pledged 66 gold ornaments. Senapati kept some of the mortgage money in his bank account and sent some money to his home in India. After the scam was exposed, the temple committee filed a complaint against the priest. At present, all the ornaments of the temple have been returned to the temple and the temple committee has not suffered any loss.
Defense lawyer Mohan Das Naidu said Senapati wanted to help his friend who was raising funds for cancer. Also wanted to help schools and temples located in India. For this he arranged money by mortgaging the ornaments of the temple but gradually he got trapped in it. The lawyer said that the intention of the commander was not wrong. However, the court did not grant relief to the convict and sentenced him to six years.

Defense lawyer Mohan Das Naidu said Senapati wanted to help his friend who was raising funds for cancer. Also wanted to help schools and temples located in India. For this he arranged money by mortgaging the ornaments of the temple but gradually he got trapped in it. The lawyer said that the intention of the commander was not wrong. However, the court did not grant relief to the convict and sentenced him to six years.