TDB suspends senior officer over gold-plating irregularities in Sabarimala

Thiruvananthapuram | The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), which manages the Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa temple, on Tuesday suspended a senior official in connection with the alleged irregularities in gold plating of the temple's 'Dwarapalaka' idols.

B Murari Babu, currently serving as the Deputy Devaswom Commissioner (Haripad), was suspended pending an enquiry, the TDB said in a statement.

The statement said that while serving as the administrative officer at the hill shrine, Babu committed a "serious lapse" by submitting a report to the Sabarimala Executive Officer on July 17, 2019, wrongly terming gold-plated Dwarapalaka idols found on both sides of the shrine's entrance as copper-plated.

Speaking to reporters in Alappuzha, Babu denied the charges, saying the TDB has yet to seek any explanation from him.

"I had given a preliminary report at that time after seeking the temple tantri's opinion in accordance with procedures. In that report, I wrote that it was a copper plate… Why did I write like that? Because it was a copper plate. Copper was well clear in that. That's why it was directed to be plated," he claimed.

On Monday, the Kerala High Court directed the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe alleged irregularities related to the reduced weight of gold-clad copper plates adorning the guardian deity idols at Sabarimala.

The weight reduction came to light during court proceedings on a decision to send the claddings for gold-plating again this year, without informing the High Court.

It was revealed that when the claddings were last removed from the Lord Ayyappa shrine for gold-plating in 2019, their weight had reduced by about 4.5 kg, a fact that had not been reported by Devaswom officials.

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