Phone dropped in hundi by accident, temple claims it in Tamil Nadu

A devotee in Thiruporur accidentally dropped his iPhone into a temple's donation box. The temple authorities refused to return it, stating anything dropped in the hundi becomes temple property. They offered him the SIM card and access to the data, but the devotee pleaded for the phone's return, leaving its fate in the temple's hands.

CHENNAI: In the Tamil movie 'Palayathamman', a woman accidentally drops her baby into a temple's 'hundi' (donation box) and the child becomes 'temple property'. At the Arulmigu Kandaswamy temple at Thiruporur, near Chennai, a devotee inadvertently dropped not a baby but an iPhone into the hundi. The result is the same.

This temple too has claimed the phone as its property. Dinesh, a devotee from Vinayagapuram, had to return home empty-handed on Friday as the temple authorities said anything dropped into the hundi belongs to the deity. They, however, offered to give him the SIM card and to let him download data from the phone.

Dinesh had visited the temple with his family a month ago and after worship went to drop some money in the hundi. He said that while he was pulling out currency notes from his shirt pocket, his iPhone accidentally fell into the hundi. Since the hundi was placed at a height, he couldn't retrieve the phone.

Panic-stricken, Dinesh approached the temple authorities. However, they told him once an offering is placed in the hundi, it is considered the property of the deity and cannot be returned. Besides, according to tradition, the hundi is opened only once in two months.

Dinesh lodged a complaint with the HR and CE (Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments) officials, requesting to be informed when the hundi would be opened.When the temple authorities eventually opened the hundi on Friday, Dinesh rushed to retrieve his phone, only to be told that the device would remain in the temple's custody. He was offered the option to take the SIM card and download any important data from the phone.

Dinesh had already obtained a new SIM card and left it to the authorities to decide on his plea to return the phone. Temple executive officer Kumaravel said the tradition of treating anything dropped in the hundi as belonging to the temple and deity would be followed and that the phone would be kept in the temple's custody. "We are not clear whether he dropped it as an offering and later changed his mind, because the hundi is well protected with an iron fence," Kumaravel said.

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