As the unprecedented rains turned Kedarnath into a ghost town with bodies strewn all over, a ‘gold rush’ in the holy town is sending shivers down the spine.
Cash and gold offerings at the shrine are missing and so is personal jewellery, including anklets and gold bangles, of several of the deceased. In some cases, fingers have been chopped off to remove rings. The local police have arrested some persons who tried to flee with the cash.
According to reports, bodies are being disfigured by looters who are out to make a quick buck before the administration reaches those far flung areas.
Gurgaon resident Narender Yadav, who managed to return home on his own after being trapped at Rudraprayag, has come with a video that he managed to shoot using his mobile phone. The video shows miscreants removing gold jewellery from dead bodies using screwdrivers and pliers.
“Chop off the hand, if you can’t remove the bangle,” a voice is heard instructing a youth trying to remove a gold bangle from a female dead body.
“It was horror. The locals have been indulging in rampant looting and mistreating the dead for gold, cash and valuables. They [also] strike at those alive and moving alone, asking them to handover their gold, cash, watches, etc and threatening that they would be pushed to the gorge,” Yadav said.
He had gone to Uttarakhand for pilgrimage with his friends and relatives, five of whom are still missing.
A teenage girl broke into tears while describing what she saw.
“They look like Nepalis and are using sharp knives to cut ears and noses to remove gold from dead bodies. How low can one stoop for greed? Instead of helping the victims they are looting them,” she said sobbing.
Some of those rescued said that the army had caught some young boys with bags full of looted gold and jewellery.
There are reports that locals are charging as much as Rs500 for a bowl of rice (Dh30) and Rs180 for a piece of roti from hungry victims yet to be rescued. Local taxis are demanding up to Rs25,000 to drive the victims to the state capital Dehradun. All agencies working on the ground have confirmed the shameless ‘gold rush’.
Pilots of the Army Aviation wing and the Indian Air Force have reported people refusing evacuation to make a ‘quick buck’ off the dead.
Special Forces of the Indian Army, which have been looking for survivors, have tried to warn the human scavengers, but to no avail.
DIG Amit Prasad of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), which has also sent its rescue teams, confirmed tell-tale signs of scavengers. “Donation boxes at Kedarnath have been broken into and emptied. We have informed the local police,” he said.
The local police’s Division Range DIG AK Sinha confirmed that a man in the robes of a sadhu was nabbed with Rs 87 lakh belonging to the State Bank of India’s branch at Kedarnath. Another man was caught with Rs 83 lakh while others have been caught with smaller sums and gold ornaments. The temple, managed by the Sri Badrinath-Kedranath Temple Committee, opens in April-May for summer depending upon an auspicious time carefully calculated by the religious men. It is during this period that the idol of Lord Shiva is installed in the shrine. In winter, it is taken down and installed at Ukhimath. This year, the Kedarnath shrine opened on May 14 and Badrinath on May 16. The shrine usually remains open till November, but the number of devotees decreases in the monsoon.
Collections run into crores each year and nearly Rs 9-Rs 10 crore is declared each year. Apart from cash, devotees offer gold as well. As this was the peak season owing to summer vacations, donations to the shrine were bound to be high. The cast iron collection boxes are usually emptied under tight security and the contents deposited in the bank. Divisional Commissioner, Garhwal Division, Subhardhan said, “Thieves have been making attempts. The local district magistrate is a member of the temple committee, but he does not enjoy administrative control over it.”
As estimated, 10,000 pilgrims were at Kedarnath when catastrophe struck. Lakshman Singh, an ITBP assistant sub-inspector and eyewitness, said, “There were 10,000-12,000 persons at the shrine when the catastrophe struck on June 16. With the administration is yet to arrive at a death toll, it is anybody’s guess what thieves have fled with in terms of gold jewellery.”
KEDARNATH’S TALES OF GREED
- DIG Amit Prasad of the ITBP said donation boxes at Kedarnath have been broken into and emptied
- The local police’s Division Range DIG AK Sinha confirmed that a man in the robes of a sadhu was nabbed with Rs 87 lakh belonging to the SBI’s Kedarnath branch
- Another man was caught with Rs 83 lakh while others have been caught with smaller sums and gold ornaments
- Jewellery, including anklets and gold bangles, of several of the deceased is missing; in some cases, fingers have been chopped off to remove rings
Tuesday 25 June 2013
http://gulfnews.com/news/world/india/they-won-t-spare-even-the-dead-1.1201440
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130625/main3.htm
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