Travancore Devaswom Board’s Vigilance wing is conducting an investigation into the alleged misappropriation of valuable gold-plated copper foils covering the intricate stone carvings, including sculptures, at Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple.
| Photo Credit: LEJU KAMAL
The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday (October 3, 2025) separately expressed mistrust in the ongoing Travancore Devaswom Board’s (TDB) Vigilance investigation into the alleged misappropriation of valuable gold-plated copper foils covering the intricate stone carvings, including sculptures, at Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple in Kerala.All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal sought a Kerala High Court-monitored investigation by a higher agency with sweeping investigative powers, while former Union Minister and BJP leader V. Muraleedharan dared the government to hand over the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).Both the Congress and the BJP appeared determined to up the ante against the Kerala government, especially in the light of “emerging evidence” that the TDB had entrusted the gilded claddings to “private brokers” for refurbishment, thereby violating the temple manual.They alleged that the High Court-appointed Special Commissioner for Sabarimala was blindsided by the “illegal act”, which opened the door for pilferage by allowing intermediaries to take the coverings for repair to Chennai.The Opposition parties also accused the TDB of “allowing private brokers to monetise the Ayyappa faith” by offering special privileges to the rich and the powerful at the temple during darshan and permitting them to surreptitiously spirit out valuable temple artefacts for private worship.The “missing” gold coverings had snowballed into a major controversy last week after the TDB Vigilance recovered a few “stolen” plaques from the residence of Unnikrishnan Potti, a former temple employee, who had reported the artefacts missing from the strongroom in the run-up to the Global Ayyappa Sangamam.Jayaram says will cooperate with probeThe scandal further spiralled on Friday, after videos shot in 2019 of Mr. Potty consecrating another set of gold coverings, supposedly bound for the Sabarimala temple after repair, including at the residence of actor Jayaram, in Chennai, emerged.Mr. Jayaram told reporters in Chennai that he would cooperate with the investigation. He said he had known Mr. Potty for years and regularly saw him at Sabarimala during the annual Makaravilakku festival. He said he had also attended some inaugurations at Mr. Potty’s instance and that Mr. Potty facilitated Ayyappa darshan for “VIP devotees” from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.Meanwhile, photographs and video footage of Mr. Potty socialising with influential figures, including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, former Devasom Minister Kadakampally Surendran and the current top brass of the State police, have emerged, further deepening the scandal.Mr. Venugopal and Mr. Muraleedharan also alleged that the coverings returned to the temple by the same set of intermediaries in 2019, reportedly after a thorough overhaul in Chennai, were pure copper, and not the original gold-plated alloy donated to Sabarimala by liquor baron Vijay Mallya in 1999.They pointed out that the High Court had noted a drastic reduction in weight of the coverings, an estimated 4 kg of gold. Published - October 03, 2025 01:35 pm IST
