The Mystery: The Special locks to the 'Bangaru Vakili' of Tirumala Sri Venkateshwara temple refused to open one fine day.
The Unfolding of events: Each day the Priests of Tirumala open the locks of the temple at 2:20 AM on the dot. The premises is then cleaned and preparations begin for the Suprabhata Seva that begins at 3:00 AM sharp every day. On this particular day, the Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, was due for the Suprabhata Seva Darshan. The priests were left embarrassed as the lock refused to open. With nothing else left to do and a VVIP entourage waiting, the authorities decided to saw open the lock. After this brief embarrassment, temple proceeding went as per schedule and the Suprabhata Seva began on time at 3:00 AM.
The official explanation offered by the temple authorities was that it was a very old lock system and the internal links and levers were found broken. However, these are special lock systems that were designed for TTD. The Chance for them to have functionality problems internally is very slim. Moreover, the locks were working absolutely fine the previous night when they locked up the doors. So what could have happened to the locks overnight?
The priests are denying any possibility of errors from their end and insist that the lords services were carried out at the proper time. One fantastical explanation doing the rounds is that the priests may have been a little over enthusiastic due to the impending VIP visit. That maybe be the reason why they tried unlocking the doors a little earlier than usual. Believers think that this may have angered the lord. Believers are going so far as to say that it may have been the lord's anger at being woken earlier than his usual time that caused the locks to malfunction.
The old locks have been sawed and new locks have been put up in their place. Things continue to function just as they did before at Tirumala, the mystery of the malfunctioning locks however, still remains.
