PATHANAMTHITTA: TDB president P S Prasanth on Saturday claimed that it was due to the Board's failure in informing the High Court about taking 'Dwarapalaka' (guardian deity) idols' claddings for renovation that the loss of gold was revealed.
Speaking to reporters here, the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) president also said, "not a grain of Lord Ayyappa's gold should be lost'.
"There was a failure on the part of the TDB officials to inform the court and special Devaswom Commissioner about taking the claddings for gold-plating. But, that failure resulted in revealing the loss of gold from the shrine," Prasanth said.
He expressed satisfaction with the ongoing probe into the issue by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) and said that he was confident they will recover the lost gold.
Regarding the allegations against the current Board from various quarters, including the Congress-led opposition, he said, "We have nothing to hide."
Prasanth said that efforts were being made to connect him to Bengaluru-based businessman Unnikrishnan Potty, who had sponsored the gold-plating work, "but there is no connection between us".
He said that if any top officials or the Board were involved in the loss of gold, the SIT will find it out.
The TDB president also claimed that Potty, who has been arrested by the SIT, had tried to implicate him in the matter.
Besides Potty, the SIT has also arrested a former Devaswom administrative officer -- B Murari Babu -- in connection with the loss of gold from the Lord Ayyappa shrine.
Potty is the prime accused in two cases registered by the SIT in relation to the disappearance of gold from the Dwarapalaka idols' plates and the Sreekovil door frames.
The loss of gold was revealed when the High Court initiated a plea on its own regarding removal of the Dwarapalaka idols' claddings for gold-plating without informing the court.
