Gold, graft, and governance

It was just past 8 p.m. on September 7, 2025 a sleepy Sunday. The Sabarimala hillock, from its bustling base at Pampa-Triveni to the sacred heights above, was slowly sinking into the stillness of the night.

The Onam festivities at the Ayyappa temple atop the hill had just concluded, and the devotees who thronged the temple in hordes had all gone back. The hill temple, a site that thrums with devotees even during brief pilgrimage periods, was mostly deserted.

The portals of the famed temple remained closed, leaving behind only a handful of Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) officials and priests at the Sannidhanam, the place where the temple is located.

As the hillock slipped into the quietness of the chilly night, the TDB officials, led by the Thiruvabharanam Commissioner (official in charge of the valuable ornaments used to adorn the deities of the temples) and a devaswom smith, carefully removed the gold-inlaid copper plates from the Dwarapalaka (idols that stand guard to the deity at the gate of the sanctum sanctorum) idols.

The process, which lasted under an hour, was video-recorded and a mahazar (the document in which the proceedings of an official inspection are recorded) was prepared by incorporating the physical condition and weight of all 12 sheets before they were removed to the vaults of the temple. By dawn, the plates were escorted to Smart Creations, a private firm in Chennai, which claimed to have been specialising in gold plating, for re-plating, as the metal plates had reportedly lost sheen and developed cracks on the surface.

The developments came as a shock for R. Jayakrishnan, Special Commissioner for Sabarimala temple appointed by the Kerala High Court to oversee temple management and related matters.

A discreet enquiry confirmed his doubts.

To his disbelief, Jayakrishnan, also a serving district judge, discovered that the gold-inlaid copper plates were removed from the Dwarapalaka idols and shifted out of the temple premises without the prior approval of the Devaswom Bench of the court. Wasting no time, Jayakrishnan brought the issue to the notice of the Bench through his report.

“The repair of gold ornaments is normally carried out on the temple premises and only with prior court sanction. The court was not informed of this work. Strict directives must be issued to ensure that no major maintenance at the Sannidhanam or Malikappuram is undertaken without the High Court’s permission,” noted the report.

While filing his report, little did Jayakrishnan realise that he was throwing light on a series of alleged irregularities and misdeeds that would go on to rock the State in an unprecedented manner.

What had initially appeared to be routine maintenance of the damaged gold-inlaid copper plates reportedly turned out to be a well-planned loot, carried out by a cohort of officials, middlemen, and temple administrators, going by the observations of the court.

Taking a cue from Jayakrishnan’s report, a Division Bench, which had Justices Raja Vijayaraghavan and K.V. Jayakumar, raised the pertinent question of how the gold plating lost its sheen in six years of restoration. The court, which was convinced of the apparent breach of its earlier orders, called for the immediate seizure of all related documents.

An examination of the records revealed that the gold-inlaid copper plates weighed four kg less when they were returned to the temple after gold plating. More shocking irregularities were lying unnoticed in the records to be revealed later. The gold-clad copper plates were marked as copper plates in the mahazar, while handing them over to Unnikrishnan Potti, a Bengaluru-based Keralite, who offered to sponsor the gold-plating works.

It has also emerged that six years after the reported loss of weight of the metal sheets, TDB officials chose to conveniently overlook the aspect and once again dispatched the metal parts for re-plating to Smart Creations. The TDB authorities had ignored an earlier warning of the Tiruvabharanam Commissioner that the agency lacked expertise for gold plating in the process.

The Vigilance probe held TDB officials Murari Babu, D. Sudheesh Kumar, and S. Jayashree responsible for the wrong recording of gold-clad sheets as “plain copper” in 2019. A special investigation team is probing all angles of the scam following a High Court order. Meanwhile, Potti, the prime accused, was arrested and interrogated in police custody.

TDB president P.S. Prasanth, however, is unfazed by the reported findings of the Vigilance officials regarding the alleged connivance of TDB officials and the involvement of Potti in the scam.

“A verification of the communication between the board and various parties would show that Potti’s name was not mentioned anywhere, and that the plates were taken to Chennai under tight security. Unfortunately, the court chose to cast aspersions on us for no fault of ours,” he says.

The High Court, alarmed at the repeated lapses, directed the Chief Vigilance and Security Officer of the board to probe further, while also raising concerns about the existence of a second set of pedestals of Dwarapalaka idols and their pedestals, reportedly donated to the temple by Potti.

The case, from this point, took a sensational turn when Potti claimed the pedestals had been missing for six years. The complaint came close on the heels of the Global Ayyappa Sangamam, a conference the TDB, organisers of the event, and the Kerala government claimed as the meeting of Ayyappa devotees worldwide to identify and prioritise the development needs of the temple and its pilgrims.

The TDB promptly denied the custody of the pedestals, while Vigilance officers found that some pedestals had been returned in 2021 and kept at the house of one of Potti’s close aides. Subsequent investigations exposed a series of procedural violations, unauthorised interventions, and financial dealings linked to the 2019 gold-plating, including outsourced work on side frames, door portals, and lintels of the temple.

“The incidents have exposed the unholy nexus between TDB officials and certain outsiders, who claim to enjoy close ties with the temple,” points out a TDB source.

“Last year, the High Court had to intervene to stop the nearly 10-year-long stay of a high-profile businessman in one of the TDB guest houses. The latest developments confirm the existence and operations of individuals favoured by the TDB,” he says.

G. Raman Nair, a former TDB president, feels that there are many systemic gaps that corrupt officers on duty at the Sannidhanam could exploit to pilfer valuables or money from the hill shrine. “The valuables and income at Sabarimala are documented by these officials. Any slip-ups in the documentation, whether inadvertent or deliberate, can easily open the door to loot. Officials with impeccable records should be posted at the Sabarimala temple,” he says.

A senior TDB official observes that the case has confirmed the existence of a wider ecosystem operating around Sabarimala, which thrives on the cult of Lord Ayyappa. The network often operates beyond the Kerala borders, especially in southern States.

“The way Potti allegedly took the temple’s doors and ornaments for rituals and exhibitions to the homes of wealthy people in Bengaluru and Chennai indicates his manipulative skills,” he says.

Prasanth too acknowledges the existence of such networks, which capitalise on the huge devotee base of Sabarimala and Lord Ayyappa, especially in southern States. “There is little the board can do, as these unsolicited activities mostly occur outside Kerala. Individuals such as Potti market themselves among the affluent, claiming to possess connections to the hill temple, and collect money by conducting rituals and offering sponsorship,” he says.

For the ruling Left Democratic Front government, the Sabarimala controversy could not have come at a worse time. Just as it appeared to have secured the backing of the Nair Service Society and the SNDP Yogam, the two prominent Hindu caste organisations for the Sangamam, the scandal erupted. The State government, too, is feeling the heat of the issue, as at least three TDB presidents appointed during its tenure are under intense scrutiny.

Devaswom Minister V.N. Vasavan suspects that a political game is being played out at Sabarimala to defame the government. “Just after the Global Ayyappa Sangamam concluded, a revelation by Potti on missing pedestals was telecast on a TV channel. The next day, the Leader of the Opposition raised it in the Assembly, highlighting the contents of the revelation. In the following days, the stolen item was eventually recovered from Potti’s possession.” The developments, suspects Vasavan, might be part of a well-scripted conspiracy to defame the government.

The NSS is taking a guarded approach to the controversies, whereas the SNDP Yogam has demanded a CBI probe.

The developments, for the Congress-led Opposition, have presented an opportunity to corner the government, especially at a time when the elections to local bodies are due.

“The present devaswom board removed the Dwarapalaka sculptures and other items in violation of the Devaswom Manual and the High Court’s ruling. The Devaswom Minister and the TDB are equally culpable in the case. The Devaswom Minister should resign owning up the responsibility for the scam and the board should be dismissed,” says V.D. Satheesan, Leader of the Opposition.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party, which had been watching the developments from the sidelines, has hit the ground running with a public protest in Pathanamthitta.

Seven years after the turbulent protests following the Supreme Court’s order permitting women’s entry to the Sabarimala, the temple has once again found itself in the midst of political battles and raging controversies.