The Vigilance wing of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) has recovered two copper-gold leaf-covered metal plaques that went missing from the Sabarimala temple in 2019.Notably, the Vigilance unit confiscated the gold-copper alloy and lacquered tablets featuring religious imagery from the house of a relative of Unnikrishnan Potti, the devotee who had sponsored the artefacts.TDB president P.S. Prasanth told The Hindu in Kottayam that “the board stood vindicated and the detection had silenced the Devasom’s detractors.” A politically tempestuous controversy had erupted in the run-up to the TDB-sponsored Global Ayyappa Sangamam, after Mr. Potti came on live television and alleged that his offering to the temple had gone missing since 2019.He claimed he had paid for the three sovereigns of gold to embellish the base of the “Dwarapalaka” statues flanking the entrance of the sanctum sanctorum of the Ayyappa temple. HC orders probeConsequently, the Kerala High Court ordered the TDB’s Vigilance wing to probe the matter. The TDB Vigilance prepared an inventory of valuable items stored in the temple’s fortified strongroom. Hard-pressed to locate the gold lacquered plaques, the Vigilance unit expanded its investigation.The Vigilance unit scanned temple records dating back to 2019. The agency concluded that the TDB had returned the gold-covered plaques donated by the sponsor after determining that they were too small to cover the pedestals of the stone idols.Subsequently, the Vigilance wing inspected the residence of the sponsor and those of his relatives and employees, leading to the recovery of the items from his close relative’s house at Pulimathu in Kilimanoor, on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram city, on Saturday.According to TDB sources, the sponsor had accepted the return of the plaques and entrusted them to an employee for safekeeping. They alleged that the sponsor had later transferred the objects to his relative’s house, possibly to dodge legal jeopardy.Report in HC todayThe case of the missing plaques had stirred a political storm, prompting the Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) to boycott the Legislative Assembly during the last sitting.The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Sangh Parivar organisations had also attempted to hold the government accountable for the missing artefacts. The TDB would file a report in the High Court on Monday and seek directions for proceeding further in the case. Published - September 28, 2025 07:28 pm IST