‘More than 5 kg of gold missing from Sabarimala’: Congress demands CBI probe as temple row escalates

As the allegations of gold theft in Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa temple have snowballed into a high-voltage political row in Kerala, Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly V.D. Satheesan on Monday demanded a CBI probe in the case.

He said more than 5kg of gold was missing from the hill shrine and accused the government and the Travancore Devaswom Board of concealing the matter.

"This is a very serious matter. UB Group and Vijay Mallaya donated more than 30 kg of gold to the Sabarimala Temple for plating various things. Unfortunately, through some middlemen, more than 5kg of that gold was robbed," the Congress leader told ANI news agency.

Meanwhile, the Kerala High Court on Monday constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to probe alleged irregularities related to the reduced weight of gold-clad copper plates of the Dwarapalaka (guardian deity) idols at Sabarimala. 

The SIT will be led by Superintendent of Police S. Sasidharan, and its functioning will be supervised by Crime Branch head, Additional Director General of Police H. Venketesh.

The court’s directive came after the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) Vigilance team submitted an interim report on its preliminary investigation into the matter.

The controversy erupted after it was found that the weight of gold-clad Dwarapalakas has been reduced after they were sent to a Chennai-based firm for electroplating. 

Unnikrishnan Potty, a Bengaluru-based businessman, who had sponsored the electroplating, is now under the radar and is being interrogated by the TDB Vigilance.

There were also allegations of a decrease in the gold at Sabarimala since 1998, when industrialist Vijay Mallya sponsored the plating of the sanctum sanctorum.

Last week, the high court had ordered a comprehensive inventory of all valuables, including gold, at the Sabarimala temple under the supervision of retired Justice K.T. Sankaran.