The Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department has declined a request by a devotee to return his Apple iPhone that had accidentally fallen into the hundial of the Sri Kandaswamy temple. The body said that the smartphone was now the temple’s property.

After accidentally throwing the phone while offering a donation, the devotee, identified as Dinesh, approached the officials of the Sri Kandaswamy temple and demanded the phone back.

On Friday, after opening the offering box, the temple administration contacted him, saying the gadget was found in the hundial. However, he was free to retrieve only the data from it. However, Dinesh refused to accept and insisted that his phone be returned to him.

HR & CE Minister P K Sekar Babu on Saturday reacted to the controversy, saying anything that is deposited in the offering box goes into God’s account.

“Anything that is deposited into the offering box, even if it be an arbitrary action, goes into God’s account,” he said, reported PTI.

“As per the practices and tradition at the temples, any offerings made into the hundial directly go into the account of the deity of that temple. Rules do not permit the administration to return the offerings back to the devotees,” he added.

He said he would discuss with the department officials to see if there was any possibility to compensate the devotee and accordingly make a decision.

Similar incident took place in the past

This incident is not the first such one in the state. According to a senior HR & CE official a devotee S Sangeetha from Alappuzha in Kerala unwittingly dropped her 1.75 sovereign gold chain into the hundial of the renowned Sri Dhandayuthapani Swamy temple in Palani in May 2023.

The gold chain fell into the hundial when she removed the Tulasi garland around her neck to make an offering. However, considering her financial background and after confirming through CCTV footage that the chain had fallen by accident, the chairman of the temple board of trustees bought a new gold chain of the same value at his expense and gave it to her, reported PTI.

The official explained that as per the Installation, Safeguarding and Accounting of Hundial Rules, 1975, none of the offerings made into the hundials can be returned to the owner at any point, as they belonged to the temple.

With inputs from PTI