Thiruvananthapuram: A little-known temple in Kerala’s Alappuzha district has suddenly more visitors than ever before. And not all of them are interested in offering prayers to the deity of Karthikeya: some are even offering crores of rupees to buy its dome.

 The new-found interest is because of rumours about the presence of radioactive iridium on the dome of the Karthikeya temple in Pandanad village, Says M B Gopakumar, president of the temple’s managing committee, “We have been getting enquiries from certain people who want to buy the temple dome. They told us that satellite imagery had shown radiance around the dome and this was due to the presence of the precious metal in it.”

 

Gopakumar says he was offered crores of rupees for the dome which is made of bronze. “We have been keeping a close watch of the dome since then and are afraid of the security of the temple,” he says. Iridium is a hard, silvery-white metal of the platinum family and is quite brittle. It finds industrial and scientific applications and is used for making certain components in unmanned spacecraft as well.

 

The villagers have approached the police seeking protection. “There are not enough personnel in the nearby Chengannur police station. Hence, no constable was assigned to guard the temple. The beat police just come calling once a day,” says Gopakumar.

 

Now residents take turns to guard the temple. The temple committee also approached the state archaeology department, which sent two of its members to check the dome. But the two-member team was not equipped to check the nature of the material used for the dome, said department officials.