KOCHI: The Sabarimala gold theft case, which emerged from a complaint regarding a missing gilded pedestal, has blown up into a major controversy -- lending credence to allegations of extensive loot in temples managed by devaswom boards nominated by the state government.
Ironically, the complaint regarding the pedestal was filed by Unnikrishnan Potti, the main accused in the case. Investigators have stitched together evidence that purportedly shows Potti’s role in replacing the gold cladding on the dwarapalaka sculptures and doors at Sabarimala temple with gold-plated panels in 2019 and 2025.
What followed was a clamour by devotees to probe allegations of corruption in other temples. And, the latest report by the state audit department on the Guruvayur Sri Krishna temple details reported misappropriation to the tune of `25 crore between 2019 and 2021.
The report highlighted the lack of proper records of offerings and other assets. The mahazar report of the forest department regarding the 522kg of elephant tusks kept at Punnathur Kotta is missing, it said, adding that artifacts, including copper, brass, bell metal, and panchaloha, received as offering since February 11, 2016 have not been accounted for. The report said that large donations and offerings were not recorded in the official register. There are discrepancies in the double register of gold and silver items used for temple rituals, it added.
“Parameswaran Namboothiri of Kodavalli mana in Palakkad had presented a huge bronze uruli (vessel) weighing 2,000kg to the temple on February 22, 2022. The vessel is worth around `15 lakh. But there is no mention of it in the devaswom stock register,” said Mahendrakumar, a litigant who has approached the Kerala High Court seeking transparency in the management of temples.
“There are no documents regarding the gold and silver articles received at the sub group temples under Guruvayur devaswom. The temple suffered a loss of `5.14 crore in 2019 from a construction contract awarded to Uralungal cooperative society. The GST, income tax, welfare fund contribution for the construction of the building under the Union government’s Prasadam scheme, amounting `89.55 lakh, was deducted from the devaswom account,” he said.
“The lack of transparency in management of devaswom assets leads to corruption. If the temple receives a valuable offering, it should be recorded in an online platform with the name of the donor, the classification of the offering, its weight and value. Here, there are multiple registers and only devaswom officials know about the offerings. This gives room for corruption,” said Sajith Kumar V, a lawyer who has been fighting for scrutiny of temple assets.
“Till 2018, Guruvayur temple allowed 10 volunteers of the Kshetra Samrakshana Samithi to monitor the counting and valuing of offerings. This was discontinued. We submitted a devaswom board application before the Kerala High Court, but it was dismissed,” he said.
There are around 10,000 temples in Kerala of which around 3,075 are managed by five devaswom boards, which are under the control of the state devaswom department. Others are managed by family trusts and organisations. The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), which manages 1,248 temples, including Sabarimala, has the most assets. However, only 60 of these temples are self reliant. The others survive on funds provided by the board. The Cochin Devaswom Board has 403 temples while the Malabar Devaswom Board manages 1,401 temples. The Guruvayur Devaswom Board, which manages Guruvayur temple, and the Koodalmanikyam Devaswom Board each have 12 temples under management.
Allegations of embezzlement have not been limited to Sabarimala and Guruvayur. In a letter sent on February 23, 2008, the assistant commissioner of Tripunithura Sree Poornathrayeesa temple alerted the special commissioner of Cochin Devaswom Board to the fake makudam (coronet) of the kolam used for the Uthram procession. As per temple records, the makudam was made of gold and weighed 496 grams. However, 17 years on, no action has come of the report.
The temple has four golden kolams: the Shiveli kolam (3 kg), Kalabha kolam (3 kg), Uthram kolam (3.9 kg), and Kallu kolam (3.642 kg). And there have been allegations of the temple’s valuables being replaced with counterfeits over a period of time.
“There is no transparency in management of temple assets. Such loot cannot happen without the knowledge of devaswom employees, president and members. The offerings box of Sabarimala and Guruvayur receive valuables like gold, silver and diamond which is not accounted for,” says former DGP Jacob Thomas, who was in charge of the vigilance department from 2014 to 2017.
“It is a system where some politicians, who are non-believers are managing the temple assets. Over a period of time all precious assets have been looted. There have been allegations that some temples use oil extracted from animal bones for burning lamps. This can cause cancer,” said former DGP T P Senkumar.
