Fact Check: Tirupati priest stole jewellery from temple? No, viral video is from Vellore
A video of a massive display of jewellery has gone viral as stolen valuables recovered from a Tirupati temple priest’s house.
By Md Mahfooz Alam Published on 6 Jan 2025 6:00 PM IST
Claim: The video shows gold, diamond jewellery and cash worth crores recovered from a priest’s house in Tirupati.
Fact: The claim is false. It shows valuables recovered from a burglary suspect who robbed a jewellery shop in Vellore, Tamil Nadu.
Hyderabad: A video showing jewellery displayed on a large table is circulating on social media. It is accompanied by claims that gold, diamonds and cash were recovered from a priest of the Tirupati Temple.
An X user shared the video and wrote, “128 kg gold, 150 crore cash and 70 kg diamonds were recovered from the priest’s house in Tirupati. Apart from the property that was distributed among relatives, this is a business that is carried out as a way of economic looting of people. (sic)” (Archive)
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is false. The video shows jewellery recovered by the police after a burglary in a jewellery shop in Vellore, Tamil Nadu.
Upon a reverse image search, we found the same visuals of jewellery placed on a table in a video report published by BBC News Tamil on December 22, 2021. Visuals similar to those in the viral clip—many gold jewellery pieces on a large table surrounded by people—can be seen throughout the 4-minute report.
The report began with CCTV footage of a burglar inside a jewellery shop, followed by scenes of police displaying the jewellery recovered from the burglar. The report identified the shop as Jos Alukkas. The report titled the crime as ‘Vellore Jewellery Robbery’. This hinted that the robbery was not linked to Tirupati.
The channel stated that the robbery was carried out by drilling a hole in the shop’s wall. A visual of the hole was also shown.
Using the information we gathered, we found a report by The Hindu dated December 21, 2021, about the incident.
The report stated that Vellore police solved the case by arresting a suspect and recovering 16 kg of gold and diamond jewellery, valued at Rs 8 crores from a graveyard in Odugathur, Vellore district, Tamil Nadu.
Addressing the media, AG Babu, DIG (Vellore Range), stated that the suspect, 23-year-old TK Raman, a resident of Kuchipalayam village near Pallikonda, was responsible for the crime. Raman had a history of involvement in two bike theft cases within the Pallikonda police station limits. He was apprehended at his rented house in Odugathur, where the stolen jewellery was found buried in a graveyard.
According to an India Today report dated December 21, 2021, the police said Raman had trained himself in theft techniques by watching YouTube videos. He learned methods to avoid leaving traces, disable CCTVs to conceal his identity and even melt gold to evade detection by the authorities.
Using these techniques he stole 15.9 kilograms of gold jewellery from the Jos Alukkas jewellery shop on Katpadi Road, Vellore.
Raman spent 10 days carefully carving a hole in the wall of the jewellery shop without making any noise. Utilising simple tricks picked up from online tutorials, he executed the heist without leaving any evidence behind. He was apprehended by the police five days after the robbery.
Therefore, we conclude that the video has been falsely linked to a priest of a Tirupati temple. The claim is false.
