The Kerala High Court, on September 17, pulled up the Tiruvithamcoor Devaswom Board (TDB) for major lapses in temple administration and ordered a Vigilance inquiry into the matter. The court directed that the inquiry report be submitted within three weeks and asked the TDB to extend full cooperation. The Devaswom Bench comprised Justice V. Raja Vijayaraghavan and Justice K.V. Jayakumar.
The court observed that the decrease in the weight of the golden layers at the temple was likely due to fraud. It noted that the transfer of the golden layers to Tamil Nadu in 2019 was shrouded in mystery, with no record of weight being entered in the mahazar when the articles were returned. This, it said, constituted a serious administrative and bureaucratic lapse.
No TDB representative had accompanied the sponsor during the transfer for repairs, leaving the articles in the custody of Smart Creations, the repairers, for one month and nine days. When returned, the golden layers were of reduced weight. The court remarked that this was beyond justification.
According to records, the articles weighed 42 kg and 800 g when sent to Smart Creations in Chennai, but were returned at 38 kg and 258 g after repairs—a loss of more than 4.5 kg. The Bench made this observation after a thorough scrutiny of the documents. The Devaswom Chief Vigilance and Security Officer, a Superintendent of Police, has been tasked with the investigation. The court stressed that the truth must be brought to light and ordered that details of the Dwarapalaka idols kept in the strong room be submitted by 30 September.
The Bench also found that copper articles and supporting seats had gold cladding in 1999 and questioned how “gold could vanish like petrol”. It examined both the documents submitted by the TDB and those seized from the Thiruvabharana Commissioner’s offices in Aranmula before pointing out the anomalies. (Thiruvabharanam refers to the golden ornaments of the deity, Lord Ayyappa).
The court noted that Unnikrishnan Potti, a party to the case, had taken the initiative to send the articles to Smart Creations in Chennai. The golden layers were peeled off on 19 July 2019. At the time, the weight was recorded in the mahazar as 25.400 kg, with the items described as copper layers, keeping the presence of gold cladding under wraps. Crucially, no Vigilance personnel were present, and the articles were transported to Tamil Nadu without security. The next day, the peets (seats) were taken out, weighing 17.400 kg.
When the items reached Smart Creations on 29 August 2019, they weighed 38.258 kg. After gold cladding, the recorded weight was 38.653 kg—an increase of just 394 g. The court noted that 800 g of gold was supposed to be plated at a rate of 8 g per square foot, but only half the stipulated quantity appeared to have been used. The warranty for the work was 40 years.
The current repairs to the golden layers are also surrounded by questions. Reports suggest the articles were taken without the presence of the Sabarimala Special Officer. Suspicion deepened after the sponsor’s letter mentioned that costs could be reduced if gold was taken from idols in the strong room.
The controversy has further escalated with sponsor Unnikrishnan Potti disclosing that he had offered another peet (seat) for the Dwarapalaka idols during the COVID period in 2019. He never went personally to make the offering, and now its whereabouts remain unknown. He said the Devaswom Board had later informed him of differences in measurements but, as the offering was made to God, he had not asked for it to be returned. He assumed it had been kept in the temple. However, when other articles were taken for repairs, he enquired about it but received no satisfactory reply. Potti welcomed the High Court’s order for a Vigilance probe.
The latest developments reinforce a widespread concern that all is not well at Sabarimala. A prominent Hindu leader recently alleged that the state government treats Sabarimala as a “cash cow”.
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