Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday directed the Chief Vigilance and Security Officer to investigate discrepancies in the gold weight of the Dwarapalaka idol at the Sabarimala temple. The matter came to light during the court’s hearing of a suo motu petition based on a Special Commissioner’s report, which flagged that gold plating had been removed from the idol without proper authorisation.

The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) had, with the sponsorship of devotee Unnikrishnan Potty (7th respondent), entrusted the plating work to Smart Creations (8th respondent). However, the Division Bench of Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan V and Justice KV Jayakumar noted that nearly 4 kg of gold appeared to be missing after the items were handed over to the sponsor for electroplating. 

Pointing to lapses — including delays, discrepancies in records, and references to the gold-plated copper sheets being labelled only as “copper plates” — the Bench observed that a comprehensive inquiry was necessary. It directed the Vigilance and Security Officer (Superintendent of Police) to conduct a detailed probe and submit a report within three weeks.

"We are of the view that the reduction of weight of the gold cladded copper plates, the handing over of the same to the 7th respondent...the delay in production of the gold-cladded copper plate before the 8th respondent, i.e., on 29/8/2019, the description of the gold-cladded copper plate in the mahazar on 19th and 20th July, 2017 as merely "copper plates" instead of "gold-cladded copper plates" all call for a proper and detailed inquiry at the hands of the Vigilance and Security Officer of the Travancore Devaswom. We, therefore, direct the Vigilance and Security Officer (Superintendent of Police) to engineer a detailed inquiry with respect to the above aspects and place a detailed report before us within a period of 3 weeks," said the court.

The court also instructed the TDB to extend full cooperation to the investigation.

Earlier, on September 10, the High Court had ordered the TDB and others to bring back the gold-plated copper coverings from Chennai and produce all records relating to the repair works. It also directed the Vigilance Wing to seize documents connected to the gold cladding of the Dwarapalakas, the door lintel, the door panel, the Lakshmi Roopam, and the Kamanam, dating back to the original cladding.

(With Live Law inputs)