8 missing diamonds: 'Things are moving', says SC

The Supreme Court today said the "things are moving" in the case of eight missing diamonds which were a part of the treausre of Thiruvananthapuram's historic Shree Padmanabhaswamy Temple.
The issue was raised before a bench comprising Chief Justice J S Khehar and D Y Chandrachud by senior advocate Gopal Subramanium, who is assisting as an amicus curiae in the matter.
"I have a concern. This court must call for the investigation report in the case of eight missing diamonds," he told the bench.
"Things are moving. They are doing it. Everybody knows about it. It will be far over-reaching if we say anything now. You can come to court on this later if you think it (probe) is not done properly," the bench told Subramanium.

The recent report filed in the apex court by the amicus curiae had said that an FIR was registered on August 6, 2016 and present valuation of the precious stones was not reflected from the registers, which have maintained the values of the ornaments prevailing at least 70-80 years ago.
It had said that as per reports, the missing stones and ornaments were valued at only Rs 21.7 lakh.

"The amicus curiae notes with some regret that eight diamonds which are a part of the Namam (tilakam) of the Lord have been reported missing. The amicus curiae requested the original registers be produced before him. Upon inspection of the records, the amicus curiae was distressed to note that the expression 'damaged' (used euphemistically), is truly intended to convey 'missing'," the report said.

When the records were produced before the amicus, it was noted that the fact of missing diamonds was recorded on August 20, 2015, in the Nambi's report of March 11, 2016, and in the FIR on August 6 last year, it had said.
He, however, regretted that the administrative committee used "vague expressions" and referred to media reports, suggesting that the diamonds may have been damaged and not lost, while the temple records clearly showed that these eight diamonds from the Namam of the Lord were missing.
The executive officer had informed the amicus that the matter has been referred to the crime branch of police and was under investigation and the district judge has also been requested to look into the matter.

The sprawling temple, an architectural splendour in granite, was rebuilt in its present form in the 18th century by the Travancore Royal House which had ruled southern Kerala and some adjoining parts of Tamil Nadu before integration of the princely state with the Indian Union in 1947.