Kerala: Auction of car gifted to Guruvayoor Temple ends in deadlock

Thiruvananthapuram: The open auction of a brand new SUV limited edition of Thar - a 4 wheel drive which was given as a gift to the famed Guruvayur Sree Krishna temple at Thrissur in Kerala ended in a deadlock on Saturday.

The temple switched to a 'soft-pedalling mode' after the auction was completed as the winner threatened to take legal action if he does not get the vehicle.

The brand new red colour Thar was handed over to the management of the temple last month. Even as initially, K.V. Mohandas, Chairman of the Guruvayoor Devaswom Board said they might use the vehicle for their needs, it was later decided to put it up for auction.

Saturday was the date fixed for the auction and the base price was fixed at Rs 1.5 million. At the time of the auction, there was only one bidder and it was Amal Mohammed Ali whose agent Subhash Panicker had come for the auction.

And since there was no one else and the base price was announced, Panicker increased the bid price and won the bid.

Amal, a businessman in Bahrain, wanted to gift this 'God's vehicle' to his son who turned 21 and the agent had come willing to bid a maximum of Rs 21 lakh.

Later, confusion arose and Mohandas said he will have to inform the temple board and it would be done next week.

This irked Panicker and said this was not fair as the bid was completed and the vehicle should be handed over to him.

"If they backtrack on this, we will take legal steps against this action by the temple board," IANS quoted Panicker as saying.