Golden armour for Thevar statue at Pasumpon handed to Dindigul Sreenivasan

AIADMK treasurer Sreenivasan receives golden armour for Thevar Jayanthi celebrations, complying with Madras High Court order. Armour put on statue in presence of senior AIADMK leaders. Legal tussle broke out in 2022, court directed bank to hand over armour to Ramanathapuram District Revenue Officer. Court said Sreenivasan was treasurer, bank bound to comply.

In compliance with the October 10 order of the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, the golden armour, meant to adorn the Muthuramalinga Thevar statue at Pasumpon in Ramanathapuram district on Thevar Jayanthi, was handed over by the Bank of India to AIADMK treasurer Dindigul C. Sreenivasan in Madurai on Wednesday.

In the afternoon, the armour was put on the statue in the presence of Mr. Sreenivasan.

Senior AIADMK leaders Sellur K. Raju, C. Vijayabaskar, Natham R. Viswanathan, R.B. Udhayakumar and Rajan Chellapa; party Ramanathapuram district secretary M.A. Muniyasamy; and medical wing secretary P. Saravanan were present when Mr. Sreenivasan received the armour from the bank.

Mr. Sreenivasan told journalists that former AIADMK coordinator O. Panneerselvam did not prefer an appeal against the High Court’s order as he feared that it would be rejected.

The 13-kg armour, which was donated by former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa to the memorial at Pasumpon, became a topic of discussion in recent years, especially after the split in the AIADMK. In 2021, Mr. Panneerselvam, the then coordinator and treasurer of the AIADMK, had received the armour from the bank locker in Madurai.

A legal tussle broke out in 2022. Mr. Sreenivasan filed a petition before the Madurai Bench, claiming that he was the AIADMK treasurer, and sought a direction to the bank to hand over the armour to him and allow the operation of the joint account. As the two factions of the party were at loggerheads, the court directed the Madurai District Revenue Officer to receive the armour from the Anna Nagar branch of Bank of India and hand it over to the Ramanathapuram District Revenue Officer for the Thevar Jayanthi celebrations.

In 2023, the Madurai Bench allowed the petition filed by Mr. Sreenivasan for a direction to the manager of the Bank of India, Anna Nagar branch, to permit operation of the joint account in the name of ‘AIADMK and Pasumpon Thevar Ninaivalayam’ for the Thevar Jayanthi celebrations at Pasumpon. Mr. Sreenivasan said the armour should be received by the AIADMK treasurer and the caretaker of the Pasumpon Thevar Ninaivalayam jointly.