Ravi Subramanian’s contemporary thriller addresses Temple treasure worth billions

Seven years ago, the best security feature at the world’s richest religious institution was obscurity 
Padmanabhaswamy Temple
Padmanabhaswamy Temple

Seven years ago, the best security feature at the world’s richest religious institution was obscurity. But after the Supreme Court asked for an inventory of the treasure located within Padmanabhaswamy Temple’s six underground vaults—previously guarded by a few police constables—the whole world learned of its fortune, conservatively estimated at US $22 billion.

This is what motivated Ravi Subramanian to step out of his comfort zone (read banking-thrillers) and pen a whodunnit centred around a heist of the temple’s riches, namely antique jewels, diamond-studded crowns, and gold coins. “From a high-profile robbery in Dubai to bomb blasts in Mumbai’s diamond district, the book has many parallel trails which lead to a convergence  at the temple. These events—heavily inspired by real life—are strung together to make  the fictional thread of In The Name Of God,” explains Ravi.


Between the lines
Now the banker turned writer’s work has seemingly turned prophetic. A few days ago, authorities revealed that eight antique diamonds adorning the temple’s deity have gone missing. This is the second theft in the last 10-months to occur inside the Thiruvananthapuram-based organisation, earlier, gold worth `189 crores reportedly disappeared.

Ravi states that the most disappointing factor about all this pandemonium is the government’s apathy towards ancient temples in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.After publishing nine books, the Mumbai-based writer now hopes to venture into digital entertainment. “Discussions are on to convert two of my earlier books into web series. Besides that, there is a movie in the offing for my book The Bestseller She Wrote,” he concludes.

`239  onwards. 
Details: amazon.in


anoop.p@newindianexpress.com
@godsonlymistake

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