The Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in Kerala finds itself not only cornered by political rivals but also facing cracks within the ruling CPI(M) after the Kerala High Court earlier this week ordered an extensive probe into alleged malpractices involving the valuables and gold of the Sabarimala temple.
“Gold and valuables donated by devotees have been looted by the TDB and its middlemen. Why has the board suppressed the report about the missing gold in 2019? Why did the TDB and its chiefs – both current and former – allow gold to be illegally taken out of the temple premises? The TDB is now shielding those who have looted the temple,” said state Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan.
The High Court, acting on suo motu proceedings based on a report filed by the temple’s vigilance officer, slammed the TDB on September 29 for its “casual and negligent” approach. It directed a former High Court judge to prepare an inventory of all valuables of the shrine and asked the vigilance officer to probe and “expose all the malpractices”.
According to the vigilance officer’s report, the gold covering of the “dwarapalaka” idols at the temple’s “sreekovil (sanctum sanctorum)” was removed without informing the court, and around 4 kg of gold was found missing after the idols were returned following gold plating in 2019.
The BJP too came down heavily on the Vijayan government, with former Union minister V Muraleedharan accusing it of “misleading devotees in the garb of organising the Ayyappa Sangamam”. “No other temple in the country will see such looting of wealth. Devaswom ministers and TDB presidents will have to answer,” he said.
Meanwhile, CPI(M) leader and current TDB president P S Prasanth admitted there had been a lapse when officials allowed one Unnikrishnan Potti to take the idols out of the temple for gold cladding. “It should not have happened. Let there be a probe. The issue is being raked up to take the sheen off the Ayyappa Sangamam,” he said.
The CPI(M) has long been under fire over Sabarimala temple-related issues. It faced strong criticism in 2018 for supporting the entry of menstruating women into the temple. More recently, the Global Ayyappa Sangamam organised by the TDB was accused by the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) of being a political event being held for the CPI(M)’s gains.
The current controversy has also sparked infighting between two senior CPI(M) leaders and former TDB presidents K Anandagopan and A Padmakumar.
Anandagopan, who headed the TDB between 2021 and 2023, emphasised the need to strictly follow the manual for handling temple valuables. Padmakumar, who served as president from 2017 to 2019 when the alleged lapses took place, countered: “Is everything at the Sabarimala happening according to manuals? Some former TDB presidents have undertaken foreign trips. Who sponsored them? Everything must be probed. During my tenure, the idols were taken out after sanction from the commissioner in charge of ornaments was received.”
Former Devaswom minister and senior CPI(M) leader G Sudhakaran, who held the Devaswom portfolio from 2006 to 2009, also waded into the debate and slammed the present TDB administration. “During my tenure, nobody took the gold plates (outside the temple) and there was little corruption. Lord Ayyappa remains safe in the temple due to political protection, else even his idol would have been taken away,” he said.
The controversy has also given ammunition to Sangh affiliates such as the Kerala Hindu Aikya Vedi. “The TDB is controlled by the CITU, the CPI(M)’s trade wing. It has no right to control the temple. The board cannot wash its hands of the matter by blaming Potti. We will hold protests against corruption at the temple,” said R V Babu, the outfit’s Kerala president.
Who is Potti and what is the case?
The patronage that Potti, a native of Srirampuram in Bengaluru, enjoyed from the TDB has added another political twist to the controversy.
Potti had claimed that an additional set of gold-plated idols were at the temple’s strong room, but last week those idols were seized from his sister’s house in Thiruvananthapuram.
The issue came out early last month after the High Court noticed that the dwarapalaka idols were taken out in 2025 also for gold plating without informing the officials concerned and the court. The court then examined all details and found that the idols were gold-plated in 2019 with a warranty of 40 years and found no rationale for despatching the same in 2025.
The court observed that Potti is “a person with questionable antecedents,’’ who took away the idols for gold plating (which was originally done in 1999) and when returned with an unexplained reduction of 4.541 kilograms from the weight of the idol.
“Without taking any action on this reduction, the temple authorities again in 2025 handed over the idols for gold-plating to him, the court observed and directed the authorities to bring back the idols to the temple immediately.
The Kerala High Court constituted a team to ispect the quality of kumkum sold to devotees in Sabarimala Temple. (File Photo) 
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