"Any irregularities in functioning of Devaswom Board will be investigated": Devaswom Minister Vasavan on Sabarimala gold plating row

Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], October 9 (ANI): Amid the opposition's allegation of inaction on the Sabrimala temple gold plating row, Devaswom Minister VN Vasavan said that any irregularities in the functioning of the Devaswom Board will be investigated.
Reacting to the opposition's demand for the resignation of former Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran and his own, he stated that no case has been registered against them in court.
"The Opposition is demanding that former Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran resign from his MLA post and that I resign from my ministerial position. Do we have any cases filed against either of us in any court?" he said.
He further added, "If there are any irregularities in the functioning of the Devaswom Board, the government will investigate them. The government's stance is that the culprits must be brought before the law. If anyone has taken even a single piece of gold from the Sabarimala temple, it will be returned there, and strong legal action will be taken."
Critising the opposition, he said, "Why are the Watch and Ward staff, who remain silent, being attacked? This is not an ornament to democracy. Like Abhimanyu trapped in the Chakravyuha, the Opposition fled from the Assembly. The Opposition is even challenging the High Court."
Meanwhile, the Sabrimala gold-plating controversy is intensifying and BJP leaders and workers staging protests in several parts of Kerala.
Earlier, it was reported that investigators were struggling to trace key records linked to the 30.3 kg of gold and 1,900 kg of copper donated by industrialist Vijay Mallya in 1998 for cladding the sanctum sanctorum and wooden carvings of the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple in Kerala.
Devaswom Minister V N Vasavan, in response to ANI, said a detailed probe was underway under High Court supervision.
"The pedestal was recovered from the residence of Unnikrishnan Potty, who himself raised the complaint, which reveals who the culprit is. More facts will emerge as the investigation progresses," the minister said.
On opposition charges of negligence by the state government and Travancore Devaswom Board, the minister said the allegations were aimed at diverting attention. "When the very item in question was found in the complainant's house, the facts became evident," Vasavan added, while confirming that Unnikrishnan Potty's influence was under scrutiny.
The probe team clarified there was no dispute over Mallya's donation but admitted that registers and supporting documents confirming the quantity of gold used were missing. Without these, the actual amount of gold plated or lost cannot be verified, raising suspicion of deliberate record tampering.
Historical records show that the 1998 gold cladding, completed in 1999, was carried out under the leadership of Chennai-based jeweller Nagarajan of JNR Jewellery with the expertise of 53 Tamil Nadu artisans. The process involved layering gold beaten into thin foils and bonding them onto copper plates with mercury.
In 2019, during repairs, Devaswom records listed the removed panels as copper sheets. When the replated panels were returned, records showed a reduction of 4.41 kg. Unnikrishnan Potty testified that the sheets given to him were copper-based with residual gold, later replated at a Chennai firm.
At the time, K S Baiju served as Thiruvabharanam Commissioner before retiring, succeeded by R G Radhakrishnan under whose supervision the work was carried out. Then Devaswom Board President A Padmakumar. Unnikrishnan Potty, along with his associates from Bengaluru, sponsored the 2019 replating. (ANI)