Diamond-studded cellphone at Siddhivinayak temple finally sold for Rs 11 lakh after two failed auctions
Diamond-studded cellphone at Siddhivinayak temple finally sold for Rs 11 lakh after two failed auctions
After tormenting devotees for over a year, the global slowdown has managed to creep through to the Lord's doorstep as well.
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The fact was evident when a diamond-studded Motorola cellphone, gifted by a devotee to the Siddhivinayak temple, failed to attract any buyers at two separate auctions.
The phone was gifted to the temple by NCP leader Ajit Pawar. Incidentally, the same phone was auctioned off last year in July for over Rs 15 lakh.
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The winning bid was made by Thane NCP corporator Pratap Sarnaik. He then gifted it to Pawar, who in turn donated it to the Siddhivinayak trust.
Surprisingly, the auctions attracted no buyers. And this forced the trust to then invite tenders to dispose of the phone.
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Siddhivinayak Temple Trust chairperson Subhash Mayekar told MiD DAY, "From April 2 to 15, we received six tenders. The highest bid was of Rs 11,11,111 from the partners of Neptune Group."
The lowest tender was for Rs 1.21 lakh, a huge drop from its previous price. In fact, the mobile phone's original cost was around Rs 3.33 lakh.
On buying the mobile, Neptune Group director Sachin Deshmukh said, "Finally, God has granted us our wish. This is the Lord's prasad."
Deshmukh added that they had bid for the phone during last year's auction too. "In the first auction, we bid for Rs 15 lakh, but it went to Sarnaik. We were unaware of the next two auctions.
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Then, we learnt that the phone was still with the temple. We were very happy when tenders were invited this time."
The mobile will again be a birthday gift. Neptune Group Chairperson Nayan Bheda said he plans to gift it to his friend Mahesh Shetty of Mahesh Tutorials.
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"Mahesh helped us start our company. We would like to gift him this diamond-studded mobile on his birthday."
"We will use the money to help the poor and provide educational and medical aid as Ajit Pawar has instructed," said Mayekar. The Siddhivinayak Temple Trust will hand over this mobile to its new owners on April 28.
The bidders
Neptune Group: u00a0u00a0Rs 11,11, 111
Jawahar Leather Work Pvt Ltd: Rs 3,60,000
Kumkum Decorators: u00a0Rs 3,00,000
Rajesh Shukla: u00a0u00a0Rs 2,50,000
Creative Construction: u00a0Rs 1,50,000
Dragon Services: u00a0u00a0Rs 1,21,000
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