Ghee scam in Sabarimala: 33 booked, loss exceeds ₹36 lakh
Assistant Devaswom Commissioner is also among the 33 named accused.
Assistant Devaswom Commissioner is also among the 33 named accused.
Assistant Devaswom Commissioner is also among the 33 named accused.
Pathanamthitta: In a major development in the probe into the alleged illegal sale of 13,765 packets of ‘Adiya Sishtam’ ghee at the Sabarimala temple, the Vigilance Wing of the Travancore Devaswom Board has booked 33 employees, including those who worked at the distribution counters.
As per the FIR submitted before the Kollam Vigilance Court, the Assistant Devaswom Commissioner is also among the 33 named accused. Apart from irregularities involving ₹13.67 lakh in counter sales, Vigilance has also detected large-scale manipulation of stock. Taking all these into account, the total loss has been assessed at ₹36.24 lakh.
The latest instance of missing stock involved 22,565 packets of ghee that were in the custody of special officers, valued at ₹22.56 lakh.
During the Mandalam season, 89,300 packets of ‘Adiya Sishtam’ ghee were handed over to the counters. Of these, 143 packets were later found to be damaged. The remaining 89,157 packets sold to devotees should have generated ₹89.12 lakh for the Devaswom. However, an audit conducted on December 27 revealed that only ₹75.45 lakh, corresponding to 75,450 packets, had been remitted to the Travancore Devaswom Board.
Vigilance also found that ₹13.67 lakh, representing the sale proceeds of 13,679 packets of Adiya Sishtam ghee, was misappropriated jointly by the accused. All of them are priests serving in various temples under the Travancore Devaswom Board.
After the Mandala Pooja, the temple closed on December 27, following which 28,550 packets of ghee were stored in the godown. A verification conducted on January 2, however, showed that only 5,985 packets remained in stock. TDB special officers S R Santhosh Kumar, K Sainuraj, and M T Aneesh, who were in charge of the stock, were booked in the case.
Of them, Santhosh Kumar serves as the Neyyattinkara Sub Group Officer, Sainuraj as the Mundakkayam Administrative Officer, while M T Aneesh is a Second Grade Overseer from Muvattupuzha.
It was also found that Sunil Kumar Potti, who was involved in the distribution of the ghee, had retained ₹68,200 from sales for 17 days without remitting it to the Devaswom Board. He has been named as the 13th accused in the case.