Tirupati Temple Priest and Daughters Wearing Lot of Gold: Fact Check

Story:

Marriage of Tirupati Balaji Temple Priest Daughters ..wearing 125 kg Gold.

Other Versions

1. This man wearing gold is related to priest in the Tirupati Balaji Temple.

His daughters can be seen wearing 125 kg gold.

2. (Hindi)

तिरुपति बालाजी मंदिर के पंडित की तीन बेटियों की शादी का फोटो.

तीनों के सोने के गहनों का बजन 125Kg है।

नागरिक. …सोचो दान कहां करना चाहिए

Fact Check:

Few pictures in heavy circulation on Twitter, Facebook and other online platforms purport to show Tirupati Balaji Temple Priest and Daughters Wearing Lot of Gold. Allegedly, they show the wedding pictures of three daughters of the Tirupati temple priest. No, the claims are not true.

Image of three women loaded with jewellery

Not Tirupati Priest and Daughters Wearing Gold

Back in 2009, a head priest of Lord Sri Kodanda Ramaswamy temple in Tirupati stole ornaments from the temple for marriage of his daughters. The incident came to light after TTD officials found nearly 10 lakh rupees worth ornaments missing during the stock-taking of the temple jewellery. Consequently, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) suspended the priest and booked a case against the temple priest. However, the person and the three girls in pictures – loaded with ornaments – are not related in any way to the TTD temple priest.

The man wearing loads of gold ornaments is in fact Amjad Saeed, a businessman from Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Amjad Saeed owns a Jewellery outlet called Jewellery Mehal and he is also called Gold Man and KaKa 222.

Pakistani businessman Amjad Saeed, also called Gold Man and KaKa 222

The other picture of three women wearing heavy jewellery is circulating online with different claims since at least 2016. While some say it is from a lavish wedding of a gangster’s daughter in Bihar, others say it is from the marriage of Tirupati laddu contractor’s daughter. The picture also appears as Gurjar people’s daughters’ wedding (Gurjar is an ethnic agricultural and pastoral community) and that of a former MLA’s daughter. Again, the picture appears with Dhanteras (first day of Diwali festival) wishes and also as fun, even on meme websites.

It is also possible the women are part of some sort of stage show. Moreover, looks like the picture initially circulated around March ending and April 1st, 2016. So, it may be shared as an April fool’s prank and the jewellery is not gold. In any case, the women in the picture are not daughters of Tirupati temple priest.