Singapore HC Rules Out Lighter Jail Term For Indian Ex-Chief Priest Involved In $1.5 Mn Temple Jewelry Pawning Case

Senapathi was appointed as a priest at Sri Mariamman Temple by the Hindu Endowments Board in the central business district from December 2013 until he resigned on March 30, 2020.

New Delhi: A 39-year-old former Indian chief priest at one of Singapore's oldest Hindu temples has failed in his appeal for a lighter jail term for pawning the temple's gold jewellery for over SGD 2 million ($1.5 million). 

Kandasamy Senapathi was sentenced to six years in jail by a district judge in May after he pleaded guilty to two charges of criminal breach of trust (CBT) and two charges of removing the benefits of his criminal activities from jurisdiction. Six similar charges were taken into consideration during his sentencing.

Senapathi was appointed as a priest at Sri Mariamman Temple by the Hindu Endowments Board in the central business district from December 2013 until he resigned on March 30, 2020.

He would pawn a piece of jewellery that adorned statues of deities at the temple for cash and then return on another day to redeem the first piece of jewellery using a second piece of jewellery, PTI reported citing the Straits Times newspaper.

He was caught during the Covid-19 pandemic which disturbed the regular audit timing and revealed the missing jewellery.

Kandasamy's lawyer, Divanan Narkunan, argued before the High Court on Tuesday that the sentence imposed was manifestly excessive.

The lawyer argued that although Senapathi received a total of SGD 2.3 million (USD 1.6 million), he had obtained only SGD 141,054.90 as benefits, as most of the pawn proceeds were used to redeem the jewellery and pay off the interest owed to the pawnshops.

However, Justice Vincent Hoong pointed out that when Senapathi pawned the jewellery pieces, he received the proceeds, as reflected in the charges. The amount represented the value of the items misappropriated.

"How the appellant chose to use the pawn proceeds subsequently is irrelevant to determining the sum misappropriated in each of the CBT charges," the report quoted the judge as saying.

Noting that sums owed to the pawn shops resulted from Senapathi's unlawful acts, the judge said, "This is simply a disingenuous argument."

Between 2016 and 2020, Senapathi pawned 66 distinct pieces of jewellery at various pawn shops on 172 occasions. 

While all the pawned jewelry items have been successfully returned to the temple, there remains an outstanding amount of SGD 141,054.90 that is yet to be recovered.