70-year old Advocate and former IPS officer Mr TP Sunderarajan, who was responsible for revealing the secret gold treasure lying in the cellars of the Sree Anantha Padmanabha Swamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, passed away in the wee hours of Sunday setting off rumours he died because of God’s intervention.

Mr Sunderrajan, who once worked in a senior position in the Intelligence bureau and moved in the inner circle of the late Prime Minister Smt Indira Gandhi, died at 12.45 am at his brother’s residence situated 30 meters away from the temple.

The old man, who remained a bachelor all his life, complained of wheezing but refused medicines and told his brother not to take him to hospital. “He said he wanted to go to toilet around 12.45 in the night but collapsed without going to the toilet,” family members said, adding he never consumed any sort of medicine at any point of time in his life.

Mr Sundararajan’s health deteriorated Saturday evening and he told his brother and other family members that he would not last till Sunday morning. “I don’t want to live till Sunday morning. I must die before the Dakshinayana enters,” he was quoted as saying by his family members. He died as he intended and the family members conducted the funeral Sunday evening.

Family members said that Sunderarajan had resigned from the Intelligence Bureau in 1974 to care of his father T K Padmanabha Iyer who had lost his eyesight following diabetes.