New Delhi, April 21 -- Much to the shock of millions of devotees, most silver coins offered at the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and Kashmir were found to be fake.

When the temple board dispatched roughly 20 tonnes of silver offerings to a government mint for melting and storage, it turned out that the metal, which was supposed to be silver, contained only 5-6% silver content. The remaining were cheaper metals such as cadmium and iron.

The temple board had expected the total value of silver to be in the range of Rs.500 -550 crore, but it turned out to be only Rs.30 crore. The contamination reportedly occurred at the level of jewellers and vendors who sell silver articles in and around this Jammu-based Hindu Shrine.

This startling d...