Lord Ayyappa shrine in Sabarimala.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Thiruvananthapuram: With the preliminary inquiry unearthing prima facie evidences for misappropriations in gold plating of Sabarimala Ayyappa temple, the Kerala High Court on Monday ordered a detailed investigation by a special investigation headed by Additional Director General of Police (law and order) H Venkatesh.
A division bench of Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan and Justice K V Jayakumar observed that the alleged conspiracy would not be limited only to Bengaluru-based Malayali Unnikrishnan Potti, but Travancore Devaswom Board officials could be also involved. The court directed the SIT to complete the investigation in one month and also wanted to ensure confidentiality.
An email sent by Unnikrishnan Potti in 2019 to then president of the Devaswom Board A Padmakumar turned out to be crucial evidence for the malpractice. In the mail Potti states that some gold cladded platings were with him after the works of the 'dwarapalaka' idols and also asks if he could use those for a girl's marriage. There was no further follow up on the matter.
The Kerala HC pointed this as a key evidence for the misappropriations.
Earlier the HC itself had found that the weight of the gold plated panels of the 'dwarapalaka' idols came down by around 4.5 kilogram after the gold plating done with Potti's sponsorship in 2019.
Moreover, it was recorded in devaswom records that the 'dwarapalaka' idols platings were only copper when it was given to Potti for gold plating in 2019. This contradicts with earlier records that the 'dwarapalaka' idols were also gold plated in 1998 with the sponsorship of industrialist Vijay Mallya. Moreover, the panels removed from the idols were with Potti for 39 days before it was given to the plating unit in Chennai.
The devaswom Board's vigilance wing, which has been carrying out a probe as per the HC directive, gave an interim report detailing the evidences for misappropriations gathered so far. Even as the total extent of gold missing is yet to be ascertained, it is roughly estimated that around one kilogram of gold went missing from the 'dwarapalaka' idols that are seen on either sides of the sanctum sanctorum's door.
Sabarimala gold missing row rocks Kerala Assembly
Proceedings of the Kerala assembly were disrupted on Monday after the opposition party Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) staged a strong protest in the house over the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple gold missing issue.
With Opposition MLAs trooping to the well of the house shouting slogans and raising banner accusing the government of "stealing lord Ayyappa's gold", Speaker A N Shamseer rushed through the proceedings and adjourned the house for the day.
Opposition leader V D Satheesan said that a High Court monitored CBI probe should be carried out into the 'gold theft', devaswom minister V N Vasavan should tender resignation and Travancore Devaswom Board president P S Prasanth should be expelled. The UDF would stage strong protests until these demands were met, he said.
He alleged that the government tried to hush up the irregularities in the quantity of gold in the plating that was evident in the devaswom board's documents in 2022 itself. This was due to the involvement of government and devaswom board officials in the looting.
While the Speaker and ruling front MLAs accused the opposition of creating disruption in the house without even giving notice for adjournment motion, Satheesan said that even as a notice for adjournment motion on the matter was given on September 19, the government denied permission citing that the matter was pending before court.
Though the proceedings of the house were initially stopped temporarily owing to the opposition's protest, the speaker later decided to adjourn the house for the day as the opposition continued with the protest when the house resumed.
Meanwhile, the devaswom board's vigilance wing is likely to submit an interim report on the findings of the ongoing probe into the discrepancies in the weight of the gold plating.