Indian Priest Denied Shorter Jail Term by Judge

In a recent ruling, Kandasamy Senapathi, the former chief priest of Sri Mariamman Temple, Singapore’s oldest Hindu temple, was sentenced to six years in prison for his involvement in a gold jewellery scam. The 39-year-old Indian priest had pleaded guilty to two charges of criminal breach of trust and two charges of removing the benefits of his criminal activities from jurisdiction.

The scam involved Kandasamy pawning gold jewellery belonging to temple deities between 2016 and 2020. He pawned 66 distinct pieces of jewellery on 172 occasions, receiving a total of SG$2,328,760(INR 14,11,66,813). While Kandasamy’s lawyer argued that he obtained only SG$141,054.90(INR 85,50,589.46) as benefits because most of the money was used to redeem the jewellery and pay off pawnshop interests, the court ruled that the amount he received from pawning the jewellery was the value of the items misappropriated.

Kandasamy, who was entrusted with the keys and combination number code to the temple’s safe since 2014, managed to evade detection by borrowing money to redeem the pawned jewellery whenever an audit was scheduled. His activities came to light in July 2020 during a routine audit, which had been delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. When faced with the possibility of the safe being broken open for auditing, he confessed to pawning the temple’s jewellery.

While all the pieces of jewellery have been returned to the temple, the SG$141,054.90(85,50,589.46 Rs)that Kandasamy remitted to India remains unrecovered.

The former priest’s lawyer argued for a lighter sentence, but the judge disagreed, stating that Kandasamy’s use of a portion of the pawn proceeds to continue his illegal activities did not lower the sums misappropriated. Consequently, Kandasamy will serve a six-year jail term for his involvement in the scam.

Many in the community have expressed outrage over the leniency of the six-year jail term, believing that the punishment does not adequately reflect the gravity of Kandasamy Senapathi’s actions. By exploiting his position of trust within the temple, Kandasamy not only committed a crime but also played with the faith and devotion of the people who held the temple and its deities in high regard.