The Supreme Court on Wednesday warned against any claim to the treasure of Rs 1 lakh crore in Thiruvananthapuram Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple discovered and sought the help of experts in the protection of rare ancient artifacts and statues brought to the opening of the depot.

A bench of Justices R V Raveendran and A K Patnaik asked all prospective claimants to lay off from the treasure and questioned media reports about the values being attached to the treasure that had been lying locked for years before being brought out by a Supreme Court-appointed committee.  The bench fixed hearing on the matter for Friday while seeking assistance from expert curators from National Museum to help preserve the ancient statues and artifacts belonging to the temple.

The bench wanted expert help to identify which of the ancient items needed preservation, those which could be displayed in a museum and the security needed for this purpose.

SUPREME COURT WARNS AGAINST ANY CLAIM TO THE TREASURE IN TEMPLE

Report by Asha Mathew