The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) Vigilance has reportedly recorded the statement of Unnikrishnan Potti, a former helper at the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple, who is at the centre of a controversy concerning the alleged “misappropriation and manipulation” of gold-plated copper foil covering the temple’s stone carvings and sculptures.
A senior TDB official told The Hindu in Kottayam that the wing had summoned Mr. Potti to the board’s headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram late Saturday. However, he lacked more information.
The TDB Vigilance had earlier questioned Mr. Potti concerning the removal of the gold plates ostensibly for restoration in workshops in Hyderabad and Chennai in 2019 and 2025.
According to officials, the government has reportedly sought legal opinion for a police investigation, possibly by the Crime Branch. Devaswom Minister V.N. Vasavan and TDB president P.S. Prasanth had signalled that the board’s standing counsel in the High Court will seek the court’s permission for a criminal inquiry.
According to police sources, the TDB Vigilance wing lacks the legal authority to make arrests or seizures. Its role is confined mainly to internal auditing and reporting malpractices and corruption in the TDB to the government for further action.
They say the government will likely weigh a Crime Branch inquiry or form a special investigation team with the High Court’s sanction.
An official pointed out that the law empowered the State law enforcement to pursue investigations outside their territorial jurisdiction, as per established procedure, including the sanction of the local magistrate to make arrests or seizures.
In 2019, the TDB Vigilance and subsequently the High Court had noted a disturbing discrepancy in the weight of the gold panels returned to the temple after supposed refurbishment. Despite the cautionary red flags by the Vigilance wing, the TDB contracted Mr. Potti for gold-plated panel repairs in 2025.
The present controversy erupted after the High Court ordered the immediate return of the panels taken out of the temple for repair and censured the TDB for violating the Devaswom manual and keeping the court-appointed Sabarimala Special Commissioner in the dark.
It gained further momentum with Mr Potti claiming that two gold-plated panels donated to the temple in 2019 were missing from the strong room in the run-up to the TDB-sponsored Global Ayyappa Sangamam.
The TDB Vigilance wing recovered the “missing objects” from Mr. Potti’s house in Thiruvananthapuram last week, triggering an increasingly strident demand from Opposition parties and Ayyappa devotees for a criminal inquiry.
Both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party have announced street agitations next week to press their independent demands for a High Court-monitored Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry.
Published – October 04, 2025 08:15 pm IST
